Marijuana use among Delaware high school students: associations with positive parenting techniques and low socioeconomic status
Date
2019
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Marijuana has a range of harmful impacts on adolescent development, and yet, it is commonly used by adolescents. Demonstrating the harmful impacts of this drug on adolescent development, it has been shown that marijuana use before the age of 15 can triple the odds of future illicit drug use (Johnston et al., 2016). Additionally, abusing marijuana can produce lasting cognitive deficiencies, educational setbacks, and social problems (King, Fleming, Monahan, & Catalano, 2011; Ratner, & Johnson, 2008). Within Delaware, surveys show that 23.3% of 11th graders currently used marijuana in 2015, surpassing national estimates ranging from 21.7% (Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2015) to 22.5% (Johnston et al., 2016; DSS, 2015). These numbers remain steady as adolescents report a declining perception of harm surrounding marijuana use (SAMHSA, 2015). Only 34% of Delaware students polled perceive regular marijuana use as a risk, a percentage which has reduced in recent years (DSS, 2015). Given the harmful impacts of marijuana use and its prevalence among youth, intervention strategies are needed to address adolescent marijuana use. As positive parenting techniques have demonstrated protective effects against adolescent substance use (Abar, Jackson, & Wood, 2014; Van et al., 2015), the current study examines associations between Delaware students’ marijuana use and positive parenting techniques. Additionally, given previous work showing that rates of marijuana use vary by socioeconomic status (SES; Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000) and positive parenting techniques may be more protective for low income youth (Goodman & Huang, 2002), students’ food and shelter security (proxy SES) is also examined. Theoretically based on Family Interaction Theory (Brook, Brook, Gordon, Whiteman, & Cohen, 1990), it was hypothesized that (1) the positive parenting techniques of parental monitoring and support/warmth are negatively associated with adolescent marijuana use, and (2) that positive parenting techniques may be more protective for low SES students. Data were drawn from a sample of 11th grade Delaware public high school students who participated in the 2017 Delaware School Survey (N=2880). Statistical procedures included logistic regression analyses with an added cluster variable to account for nesting within schools. Findings supported the first hypothesis that positive parenting techniques are protective against current marijuana use. Specifically, more parental monitoring was significantly associated with a lower likelihood of youth currently using marijuana. Higher levels of parental support/warmth were also associated with a lower likelihood of current marijuana use (though only at trend level). Analyses examining heavy marijuana use showed similar results, with increased parental monitoring significantly decreasing the odds that youth would engage in heavy marijuana use. Findings for the second hypothesis were partially confirmed for heavy marijuana use. Socioeconomic status was found to significantly moderate the association for parental support/warmth and heavy marijuana use. Further analyses stratified by SES, however, suggested parental support/warmth is not statistically significantly associated with heavy marijuana use among low SES or mid/high SES youth.