Mental Health and Perceived Stress among Hispanic/Latina Mothers who Consume and Do Not Consume Cannabis: A Matched Case Series from the Herbal Heart Study

Kieran Kenig, BS
University of Miami

Co-authors: Kieran Kenig¹, Bria-Necole Diggs¹, Kayla Hearon¹, Denise C. Vidot^1
1University of Miami

Background: Hispanic/Latina women experience unique social and structural factors that contribute to disparities in maternal mental health and access to care. Concurrently, cannabis use among women of reproductive age has increased, with anxiety, depression, and stress commonly reported as reasons for use. The relationship between cannabis use and mental health among Hispanic/Latina mothers remains poorly characterized.

Objective: To explore anxiety, depression, and perceived stress among cannabis using and non-using young adult Hispanic/Latina mothers.

Methods: Cross-sectional data from the Herbal Heart Study were analyzed, where 22 participants reported having children (n=22). Cannabis-consuming mothers were individually exact matched (1:1) to non-consuming mothers by age and race/ethnicity, yielding three matched pairs (n=6). Mental health outcomes were self-reported using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), with scores categorized according to established clinical cutoffs. Descriptive statistics summarized participant characteristics and mental health outcomes.

Results: The matched sample (n=6) was entirely Hispanic mothers with a median age of 32 years (IQR: 32–34). Among cannabis consumers (n=3), one participant each reported smoking blunts (33.3%), joints (33.3%), or vaping cannabis (33.3%). Cannabis consumers had one to three children ranging from 2–16 years of age, while non-consumers had one to two children ranging from 1–13 years. Overall, 33.4% of participants reported mild-to-moderate anxiety, 16.7% reported severe depression, and 50.0% reported moderate perceived stress. There was no difference in BAI-defined anxiety (33.3%) between cannabis consumers and non consumers. All cannabis consumers reported none/minimal depression compared to 66.7% of non-consumers. One non-consumer (33.3%) reported severe depression. Moderate perceived stress was reported by 66.7% of cannabis consumers, with no consumers reporting high perceived stress. Among non-consumers, perceived stress was distributed across low (33.3%), moderate (33.3%), and high (33.3%) categories.

Conclusions: In this exploratory matched sample of Hispanic/Latina mothers, patterns of anxiety, depression, and perceived stress varied between cannabis consumers and non-consumers. Preliminary findings underscore the need for adequately powered studies that incorporate cannabis use details and relevant social and structural determinants to clarify whether cannabis use is associated with maternal mental health risk, symptom management, or both among Hispanic/Latina women.