RESEARCH PAPER
Psychological factors and genetic characteristics of rural cannabis users
 
More details
Hide details
1
Department of Physical Education and Social Science, University of Physical Education and Sport, Gdańsk, Poland
 
2
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Collegium Medicum, University of Zielona Góra, Poland
 
3
Independent Laboratory of Health Promotion of the Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland
 
4
Independent Laboratory of Family Physician Education, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczeczin, Poland
 
5
Department of Humanities in Medicine, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland
 
 
Corresponding author
Anna Grzywacz   

Independent Laboratory of Health Promotion of the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Chłapowskiego 11, 70-204, Szczecin, Poland
 
 
Ann Agric Environ Med. 2020;27(2):260-268
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Marijuana is one of the most widely used psychoactive substance. There is evidence of genetic predisposition for addiction.

Objective:
The aim of the study is to evaluate personality traits measured by the NEO Five-Factor Inventory and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, combined with analysis of Tag1B rs1079597 and Tag1D rs1800498 located in the DRD2 gene.

Material and methods:
The study group consisted of 214 rural cannabinoid users and 301 controls. The same psychometric test and real-time PCR genotyping were performed in both studied groups.

Results:
The values of Anxiety state, Anxiety trait, NEO FFI: Neuroticism and Openness in the rural cannabis using group were significantly higher than in the control group. On the other hand, lower values were observed among rural people using cannabis compared to the control group for NEO FFI: Extraversion, Agreeability and Conscientiousness. In the Anxiety trait subscale, a 2% association with the polymorphism DRD2 Tag1B rs1079597 was detected in subjects using cannabis. However, for the DRD2 Tag1D rs1800498, there was no effect on the differences in personality traits between rural cannabis users and the control group.

Conclusions:
The study shows differences in personality traits between the cannabis using group and controls. Interaction between genetic factors and personality traits was also detected. The association showing the combination of psychological characteristics and genetic variants can bring us closer to the overall picture of the issue of marijuana addiction.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was funded by National Science Center grant number UMO-2015/19/B/NZ7/03691.
 
REFERENCES (78)
1.
Lynskey MT, Heath AC, Nelson EC, Bucholz KK, Madden PA, Slutske WS et al. Genetic and environmental contributions to cannabis dependence in a national young adult twin sample. Psychol Med. 2002; 32: 195–207.
 
2.
Rhee SH, Hewitt JK, Young SE, Corley RP, Crowley TJ, Stallings MC. Genetic and environmental influences on substance initiation, use, and problem use in adolescents. Arch Gen Psych. 2003; 60: 1256–1264.
 
3.
World Drug Report 2019; Division for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: Vienna, Austria, 2019.
 
4.
Hill M, Sternberg A, Suk HW, Meier MH, Chassin L. The intergenerational transmission of cannabis use: Associations between parental history of cannabis use and cannabis use disorder, low positive parenting, and offspring cannabis use. Psychol Addict Behav. 2018; 32: 93–103.
 
5.
Sternberg A, Hill ML, Suk HW, Meier M, Chassin L. Exploring Cannabis-Specific Parenting as a Mechanism of the Intergenerational Transmission of Cannabis Use and Cannabis Use Disorder. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2019; 80: 32–41.
 
6.
Rothenberg WA, Sternberg A, Blake A, Waddell J, Chassin L, Hussong A. Identifying adolescent protective factors that disrupt the intergenerational transmission of cannabis use and disorder. Psychol Addict Behav. 2019. doi: 10.1037/adb0000511.
 
7.
Kendler KS, Ohlsson H, Sundquist J, Sundquist K. A Contagion Model for Within-Family Transmission of Drug Abuse. Am J Psychiatry. 2019; 176: 239–248.
 
8.
Kendler KS, Ohlsson H, Sundquist K, Sundquist J. Within-family environmental transmission of drug abuse: a Swedish national study. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013; 70: 235–42.
 
9.
Kosty DB, Farmer RF, Seeley JR, Gau JM, Duncan SC, Lewinsohn PM. Parental transmission of risk for cannabis use disorders to offspring. Addiction. 2015; 110: 1110–7.
 
10.
Maes HH, Neale MC, Ohlsson H, Zahery M, Lichtenstein P, Sundquist K et al. A Bivariate Genetic Analysis of Drug Abuse Ascertained Through Medical and Criminal Registries in Swedish Twins, Siblings and Half-Siblings. Behav Genet. 2016; 46: 735–741.
 
11.
Kendler KS, Maes HH, Sundquist K, Ohlsson H, Sundquist J. Genetic and family and community environmental effects on drug abuse in adolescence: a Swedish national twin and sibling study. Am J Psychiatry. 2014; 171: 209–17.
 
12.
Gillespie NA, Aggen SH, Neale MC, Knudsen GP, Krueger RF, South SC et al. Associations between personality disorders and cannabis use and cannabis use disorder: a population-based twin study. Addiction. 2018; 113: 1488–1498.
 
13.
Smolkina M, Morley KI, Rijsdijk F, Agrawal A, Bergin JE, Nelson EC et al. Cannabis and Depression: A Twin Model Approach to Co-morbidity. Behav Genet. 2017; 47: 394–404.
 
14.
Elliott L, Haddock CK, Campos S, Benoit E. Polysubstance use patterns and novel synthetics: A cluster analysis from three U.S. cities. PLoS One. 2019; 14: e0225273.
 
15.
Morgan N, Daniels W, Subramaney U. Smoking heroin with cannabis versus injecting heroin: unexpected impact on treatment outcomes. Harm Reduct J. 2019; 16: 65.
 
16.
Viola TW, Sanvicente-Vieira B, Kluwe-Schiavon B, Rothmann LM, Mélo-Pereira JVNE, Bicca C et al. Association Between Recent Cannabis Consumption and Withdrawal-Related Symptoms During Early Abstinence Among Females with Smoked Cocaine Use Disorder. J Addict Med. 2020. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000000599.
 
17.
Shen Y, Lo-Ciganic WH, Segal R, Goodin AJ. Prevalence of substance use disorder and psychiatric comorbidity burden among pregnant women with opioid use disorder in a large administrative database, 2009–2014. J Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol. 2020: 1–7. doi: 10.1080/0167482X.2020.1727882.
 
18.
Thayer RE, YorkWilliams S, Karoly HC, Sabbineni A, Ewing SF, Bryan AD et al. Structural neuroimaging correlates of alcohol and cannabis use in adolescents and adults. Addiction. 2017; 112: 2144–2154.
 
19.
Murad H, Moassas F, Jarjour R, Mukhalalaty Y, Al-Achkar W. Prenatal molecular diagnosis of β-thalassemia and sickle cell anemia in the Syrian population. Hemoglobin. 2014; 38: 390–3.
 
20.
Serjeant GR, Vichinsky E. Variability of homozygous sickle cell disease: The role of alpha and beta globin chain variation and other factors. Blood Cells Mol Dis. 2018; 70: 66–77.
 
21.
Young-Wolff KC, Sarovar V, Tucker LY, Goler NC, Alexeeff SE, Ridout KK, Avalos LA. Association of Depression, Anxiety, and Trauma With Cannabis Use During Pregnancy. JAMA Netw Open. 2020; 3: e1921333.
 
22.
Mercado A, Rogers DL, Rodriguez CC, Villarreal D, Terracciano A, Nguyen-Finn K. Personality and Substance Use in Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2016; 14: 907–20.
 
23.
Flory K, Lynam D, Milich R, Leukefeld C, Clayton R. The relations among personality, symptoms of alcohol and marijuana abuse, and symptoms of comorbid psychopathology: results from a community sample. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2002; 10: 425–3.
 
24.
Terracciano A, Löckenhoff CE, Crum RM, Bi-envenu OJ, Costa PT Jr. Five-Factor Model personality profiles of drug users. BMC Psychiatry. 2008; 8: 22.
 
25.
Moraleda E, Ramírez López J, Fernández-Calderón F, Lozano ÓM, Diaz-Batanero C. Personality Traits among the Various Profiles of Substance Use Disorder Patients: New Evidence Using the DSM-5 Section III Framework. Eur Addict Res. 2019; 25: 238–247.
 
26.
Pasman JA, Verweij KJH, Gerring Z, Stringer S, Sanchez-Roige S, Treur JL, et al. GWAS of lifetime cannabis use reveals new risk loci, geneticoverlap with psychiatric traits, and a causal effect of schizophrenia liability. Nat Neurosci. 2018; 21: 1161–1170.
 
27.
Hryhorowicz S, Walczak M, Zakerska-Banaszak O, Słomski R, Skrzypczak-Zielińska M. Pharmacogenetics of Cannabinoids. Eur J Drug Metab Pharmacokinet. 2018; 43: 1–12.
 
28.
Mechoulam R, Parker LA. The endocannabinoid system and the brain. Annu Rev Psychol. 2013; 64: 21–47.
 
29.
Altun A, Yildirim K, Ozdemir E, Bagcivan I, Gursoy S, Durmus N. Attenuation of morphine antinociceptive tolerance by cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptor antagonists. J Physiol Sci. 2015; 65: 407–15.
 
30.
Chiang YC, Lo YN, Chen JC. Crosstalk between dopamine D₂ receptors and cannabinoid CB₁ receptors regulates CNR1 promoter activity via ERK1/2 signaling. J Neurochem. 2013; 127: 163–76.
 
31.
Hartman CA, Hopfer CJ, Haberstick B, Rhee SH, Crowley TJ, Corley RP et al. The association between cannabinoid receptor 1 gene (CNR1) and cannabis dependence symptoms in adolescents and young adults. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2009; 104: 11–16.
 
32.
Peters KZ, Oleson EB, Cheer JF. A Brain on Cannabinoids: The Role of Dopamine Release in Reward Seeking and Addiction. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2020; pii: a039305.
 
33.
Patriquin MA, Bauer IE, Soares JC, Graham DP, Nielsen DA. Addiction pharmacogenetics: a systematic review of the genetic variation of the dopaminergic system. Psychiatr Genet. 2015; 25: 181–93.
 
34.
Gallo EF. Disentangling the diverse roles of dopamine D2 receptors in striatal function and behavior. Neurochem Int. 2019; 125: 35–46.
 
35.
Blum K, Noble EP, Sheridan PJ, Montgomery A, Ritchie T, Ozkaragoz T et al. Genetic predisposition in alcoholism: association of the D2 dopamine receptor TaqI B1 RFLP with severe alcoholics. Alcohol. 1993; 10: 59–67, doi: 10.1016/0741-8329(93)90054-r.
 
36.
Noble EP, Blum K, Khalsa ME, Ritchie T, Montgomery A, Wood RC et al. Allelic association of the D2 dopamine receptor gene with cocaine dependence. Drug Alcohol Depend. 1993; 33: 271–285.
 
37.
Robinson JD, Lam CY, Minnix JA, Wetter DW, Tomlinson GE, Minna JD et al. The DRD2 TaqI-B polymorphism and its relationship to smoking abstinence and withdrawal symptoms. Pharmacogenomics J. 2007; 7: 266–274. doi: 10.1038/sj.tpj.6500427.
 
38.
Smith SS, O’Hara BF, Persico AM, Gorelick DA, Newlin DB, Vlahov D et al. Genetic vulnerability to drug abuse. The D2 dopamine receptor TaqI B1 restriction fragment length polymorphism appears more frequently in polysubstance abusers. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1992; 49: 723–727.
 
39.
Lilienfeld SO, Watts AL, Francis Smith S, Berg JM, Latzman RD. Psychopathy Deconstructed and Reconstructed: Identifying and Assembling the Personality Building Blocks of Cleckley’s Chimera. J Pers. 2015; 83: 593–610.
 
40.
Sachs GS, Peters AT, Sylvia L, Grunze H. Polypharmacy and bipolar disorder: what’s personality got to do with it? Int J Neuropsycho-pharmacol. 2014; 17: 1053–61.
 
41.
Keuthen NJ, Tung ES, Tung MG, Curley EE, Flessner CA. NEO-FFI personality clusters in trichotillomania. Psychiatry Res. 2016; 239: 196–203.
 
42.
Widiger TA, Coata PT. Personality Disorders and the Five-Factor Model of Personality; American Psychological Association: Washington, DC, USA, 2013.
 
43.
Goldberg LR. An alternative “description of personality”: The big-five factor structure. J Personal Soc Psychol. 1990; 59: 1216–1229.
 
44.
Thompson ER. Development and Validation of an International English Big-Five Mini-Markers. Personal Individ Differ. 2008; 45: 542–548.
 
45.
Matthews G, Deary IJ. Personality Traits; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 1998.
 
46.
Holmes A, Yang RJ, Lesch KP, Crawley JN, Murphy DL. Mice lacking the serotonin transporter exhibit 5-HT(1A) receptor-mediated abnormalities in tests for anxiety-like behavior. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2003; 28: 2077–2088.
 
47.
Lesch KP, Bengel D, Heils A, Sabol SZ, Greenberg BD, Petri S, et al. Association of anxiety-related traits with a polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene regulatory region. Science. 1996; 274: 1527–1531.
 
48.
DeYoung CG, Peterson JB, Higgins DM. Sources of openness/intellect: Cognitive and neuropsychological correlates of the fifth factor of personality. J Personal. 2005; 73: 825–858.
 
49.
John OP, Srivastava S. The big-five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. Handb Personal Theory Res. 1999; 2: 102–138.
 
50.
Friedman HS, Schustack MW. Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research; Person: London, UK, 2016.
 
51.
Guillén-Riquelme A, Buela-Casal G. Meta-analysis of group comparison and meta-analysis of reliability generalization of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Questionnaire (STAI). Rev Esp Salud Publica. 2014; 88: 101–12.
 
52.
Costa P, McCrae RR. The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R); Sage Publications Inc.: Thousand Oaks, CA, USA, 2008; 2: 179–198.
 
53.
Ersche KD, Turton AJ, Chamberlain SR, Müller U, Bullmore ET, Robbins TW. Cognitive Dysfunction and Anxious-Impulsive Personality Traits Are Endophenotypes for Drug Dependence. Am J Psychiatry. 2012; 169: 926–936.
 
54.
Vorspan F, Mehtelli W, Dupuy G, Bloch V, Lépine JP. Anxiety and substance use disorders: co-occurrence and clinical issues. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2015; 17: 4.
 
55.
Pietras T, Witusik A, Panek M, Szemraj, Gorski P. Anxiety, depression and methods of stress coping in patients with nicotine dependence syndrome. Med Sci Monit. 2011; 17: Cr272–276.
 
56.
Özdel K, Ekinci S. Distress intolerance in substance dependent patients. Compr Psychiatry. 2014; 55: 960–965.
 
57.
Hyman SM, Sinha R. Stress-related factors in cannabis use and misuse: implications for prevention and treatment. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2009; 36: 400–413.
 
58.
Hooten WM, Ames SC, Vickers KS, Hays JT, Wolter TD, Hurt RD, et al. Personality correlates related to tobacco abstinence following treatment. Int J Psychiatry Med. 2005; 35: 59–74.
 
59.
Genetics of Personality Consortium, de Moor MH, van den Berg SM, Verweij KJ, Krueger RF, Luciano M, Arias Vasquez A, et al. Meta-analysis of Genome-wide Association Studies for Neuroticism, and the Polygenic Association With Major Depressive Disorder. JAMA Psychiatry. 2015; 72: 642–50.
 
60.
Docherty AR, Moscati A, Peterson R, Edwards AC, Adkins DE, Bacanu SA, et al. SNP-based heritability estimates of the personality dimensions and polygenic prediction of both neuroticism and major depression: findings from CONVERGE. Transl Psychiatry. 2016; 6: e926.
 
61.
Amin N, Schuur M, Gusareva ES, Isaacs A, Aulchenko YS, Kirichenko AV, et al. A genome-wide linkage study of individuals with high scores on NEO personality traits. Mol Psychiatry. 2012; 17: 1031–41.
 
62.
Jasiewicz A, Samochowiec A, Samochowiec J, Małecka I, Suchanecka A, Grzywacz A. Suicidal behavior and haplotypes of the dopamine receptor gene (DRD2) and ANKK1 gene polymorphisms in patients with alcohol dependence-preliminary report. PLoS One. 2014; 9: e111798. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111798.
 
63.
De Ruyck K, Nackaerts K, Beels L, Werbrouck J, De Volder A, Meysman M, et al. Genetic variation in three candidate genes and nicotine dependence, withdrawal and smoking cessation in hospitalized patients. Pharmacogenomics. 2010; 11: 1053–1063. 10.2217/PGS.10.75.
 
64.
Spitz MR, Shi HH, Yang F, et al. Case–control study of the D2 dopamine receptor gene and smoking status in lung cancer patients. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1998; 90: 358–363.
 
65.
Zhang J, Yan P, Li Y, Cai X, Yang Z, Miao X, et al. A 35.8 kilobases haplotype spanning ANKK1 and DRD2 is associated with heroin dependence in Han Chinese males. Brain Res. 2018: 1688: 54–64. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2018.03.017.
 
66.
Jonsson EG, Nothen MM, Grunhage F, Farde L, Nakashima Y, Propping P, et al. Polymorphisms in the dopamine D2 receptor gene and their relationships to striatal dopamine receptor density of healthy volunteers. Mol Psychiatry. 1999; 4: 290–296.
 
67.
Ritchie T, Noble EP. Association of seven polymorphisms of the D2 dopamine receptor gene with brain receptor-binding characteristics. Neurochem Res. 2003; 28: 73–82.
 
68.
Moyer RA, Wang D, Papp AC, Smith RM, Duque L, Mash DC, et al. Intronic polymorphisms affecting alternative splicing of human dopamine D2 receptor are associated with cocaine abuse. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2011; 36: 753–762 doi: 10.1038/npp.2010.208.
 
69.
Rampino A, Marakhovskaia A, Soares-Silva T, Torretta S, Veneziani F, Beaulieu JM. Antipsychotic Drug Responsiveness and Dopamine Receptor Signaling; Old Players and New Prospects. Front Psychiatry. 2019; 9: 702.
 
70.
Gluskin BS, Mickey BJ. Genetic variation and dopamine D2 receptor availability: A systematic review and meta-analysis of human in vivo molecular imaging studies. Transl Psychiatry. 2016; 6: e747.
 
71.
Vereczkey A, Demetrovics Z, Szekely A, Sarkozy P, Antal P, Szilagyi A, et al. Multivariate analysis of dopaminergic gene variants as risk factors of heroin dependence. PLoS One. 2013; 8: e66592.
 
72.
Preuss UW, Zill P, Koller G, Bondy B, Sokya M. D2 dopamine receptor gene haplotypes and their influence on alcohol and tobacco consumption magnitude in alcohol-dependent individuals. Alcohol Alcohol. 2007; 42: 258–266.
 
73.
Sznabowicz M, Jasiewicz A, Iskra-Trifunović J, Małecka I, Karakiewicz B, Kotwas A, et al. Case-control study analysis of DRD2 gene polymorphisms in drug addicted patients. Psychiatr Pol. 2018; 52: 1013–1022. doi: 10.12740/PP/85935.
 
74.
Fernàndez-Castillo N, Ribasés M, Roncero C, Casas M, Gonzalvo B, Cormand B. Association study between the DAT1, DBH and DRD2 genes and cocaine dependence in a Spanish sample. Psychiatr Genet. 2010; 20: 317–20. doi: 10.1097/YPG.0b013e32833b6320.
 
75.
Małecka I, Jasiewicz A, Suchanecka A, Samochowiec J, Grzywacz A. Association and family studies of DRD2 gene polymorphisms in alcohol dependence syndrome. Postepy Hig Med Dosw (Online). 2014; 68: 1257–63. doi: 10.5604/17322693.1127883.
 
76.
Suriyaprom K, Tungtrongchitr R, Harnroongroj T. Impact of COMT Val 108/158 Met and DRD2 Taq1B gene polymorphisms on vulnerability to cigarette smoking of Thai males. J Mol Neurosci. 2013; 49: 544–9. doi: 10.1007/s12031-012-9844-z.
 
77.
Nacak M, Isir AB, Balci SO, Pehlivan S, Benlier N, Aynacioglu S. Analysis of dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) gene polymorphisms in cannabinoid addicts. J Forensic Sci. 2012; 57: 1621–4. doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2012.02169.x.
 
78.
Lu RB, Lee JF, Ko HC, Lin WW. Dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2) is associated with alcoholism with conduct disorder. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2001; 25: 177–184.
 
eISSN:1898-2263
ISSN:1232-1966
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top