ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Perinatal Psychiatry
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1616463
This article is part of the Research TopicPerinatal Substance Use and Maternal Mental HealthView all articles
Identifying adverse childhood experiences and mental health needs among a small sample of pregnant women who use cannabis
Provisionally accepted
Aubrey Jones1*
Lisa M Blair2Julie A.M.J Kurzer2Kathy Rademacher1Letitia Ducas1Cynthia Cockerham1
Kristin Ashford1- 1University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States
- 2Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States
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As the legalization of cannabis becomes more widespread use has steadily increased. Approximately 5 percent of pregnant individuals self-report use during pregnancy. This study uses a mixed methods approach to examine adverse childhood experiences, mental health needs, and cannabis use among a small sample (N =59) of women. Cumulative ACE scores of four or more were considerably high within this sample compared to the US average. Results of a binary logistic regression indicate an association between ACEs and Cannabis use (OR 1.27, 95% CI (1.002-1.616) when controlling for maternal age and anxiety. Qualitative results identified two main sub-themes: Medical Use for Mental Health Symptoms and Concerns about Negative Mental Health Effects Postpartum. Results suggest a need for patient screening for trauma and cannabis use to provide early intervention and comprehensive mental health support.
Keywords: Cannabis, Pregnancy, Perinatal mental health, Trauma, Adverse childhood experiences
Received: 22 Apr 2025; Accepted: 21 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jones, Blair, Kurzer, Rademacher, Ducas, Cockerham and Ashford. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Aubrey Jones, University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States
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