Michael G Vaughn1,2, Millan AbiNader3, Christopher P Salas-Wright4, Katherine Holzer1, Sehun Oh5, Yeongjin Chang2. 1. School of Social Work, Saint Louis University , St Louis, MO, USA. 2. Graduate School of Social Welfare, Yonsei University , Seoul, Korea (The Republic Of). 3. School of Social Work, Arizona State University , Phoenix, AZ, USA. 4. School of Social Work, Boston University , Boston, MA, USA. 5. College of Social Work, Ohio State University , Columbus, OH, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Little is known regarding trends in cannabis use among justice-involved youth. We hypothesize that cannabis use will be higher over time among justice-involved youth who, on average, are more likely to be exposed to and seek out cannabis. OBJECTIVES: The present study compares trends in cannabis use among justice-involved youth (past year) with youth in the general population age 12-17 who have not been arrested in the past year. METHODS: Public-use data as part of the 2002-2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which does not include state-level identifiers, was used. Males constitute 51% of the total sample. Among justice-involved youth, 66.4% were males. We employed logistic regression analyses with survey year as an independent variable and past-year cannabis use as the dependent variable. A series of logistic regressions examined the association between cannabis use and psychosocial and behavioral factors. RESULTS: The prevalence of past-year cannabis use among justice-involved youth (3.09% of the sample) steadily increased from 54% in 2002 to 58% in 2017 (AOR = 1.018, 95% CI = 1.004-1.034), while the concurrent prevalence of cannabis use among youth with no past year arrests decreased from a high of 14% in 2002 to 12% in 2017 (AOR = 0.993, 95% CI = 0.990-0.997). CONCLUSION: Study findings suggest that cannabis use is increasing among justice-involved youth.
BACKGROUND: Little is known regarding trends in cannabis use among justice-involved youth. We hypothesize that cannabis use will be higher over time among justice-involved youth who, on average, are more likely to be exposed to and seek out cannabis. OBJECTIVES: The present study compares trends in cannabis use among justice-involved youth (past year) with youth in the general population age 12-17 who have not been arrested in the past year. METHODS: Public-use data as part of the 2002-2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which does not include state-level identifiers, was used. Males constitute 51% of the total sample. Among justice-involved youth, 66.4% were males. We employed logistic regression analyses with survey year as an independent variable and past-year cannabis use as the dependent variable. A series of logistic regressions examined the association between cannabis use and psychosocial and behavioral factors. RESULTS: The prevalence of past-year cannabis use among justice-involved youth (3.09% of the sample) steadily increased from 54% in 2002 to 58% in 2017 (AOR = 1.018, 95% CI = 1.004-1.034), while the concurrent prevalence of cannabis use among youth with no past year arrests decreased from a high of 14% in 2002 to 12% in 2017 (AOR = 0.993, 95% CI = 0.990-0.997). CONCLUSION: Study findings suggest that cannabis use is increasing among justice-involved youth.
Keywords:
Cannabis; delinquency; drug use; justice-involved youth
Authors: Marina Tolou-Shams; Emily F Dauria; Johanna Folk; Martha Shumway; Brandon D L Marshall; Christie J Rizzo; Nena Messina; Stephanie Covington; Lauren M Haack; Tonya Chaffee; Larry K Brown Journal: Drug Alcohol Depend Date: 2021-07-28 Impact factor: 4.492
Authors: Christopher P Salas-Wright; Audrey Hang Hai; Sehun Oh; Abdulaziz Alsolami; Michael G Vaughn Journal: Addict Behav Date: 2021-01-07 Impact factor: 3.913
Authors: Marina Tolou-Shams; Johanna B Folk; Brandon D L Marshall; Emily F Dauria; Kathleen Kemp; Yu Li; Daphne Koinis-Mitchell; Larry K Brown Journal: Drug Alcohol Depend Date: 2021-05-21 Impact factor: 4.492