Cannabis smoking clusters within secondary schools: Results from the United States monitoring the future study 1976–2013

Abstract

whether school-level risk factors were associated with student marijuana use, after accounting for individual-level covariates. Methods: Multilevel modeling was used to analyze data from 27,874 high school students participating in the 2013 Maryland Safe and Supportive Schools Climate Survey. Individual-level factors included gender, age, race/ethnicity, alcohol use, tobacco use, fighting, and perceptions of school safety and support. School-level factors included alcohol use prevalence, tobacco use prevalence, urbanicity, suspensions, racial composition, fighting prevalence, student/teacher ratio, proportion receiving special education services and free/reduced price meals, and student mobility rate. Results: 21% of youth reported marijuana use. Variance was greater at the classroom level ( = 0.15, SD=0.39) vs. the school level ( = 0.02, SD=0.13). Students at schools with a higher proportion of racial/ethnic minorities (AOR=1.01, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.01), mobility rate (AOR=1.02, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.04), and alcohol use prevalence (AOR=1.03, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.04) were slightly more likely to report marijuana use. Individual-level factors were more strongly associated with marijuana use than school-level factors, including older age, Black race/ethnicity, alcohol use, tobacco use, and fighting. Conclusions: Marijuana use is common among high school students, despite differences in school-level factors. Given the continued loosening of marijuana policies, it is likely that adolescent marijuana use will increase. Schools may need to reconsider approaches to drug use prevention education. Financial support: Thisworkwas supported by theU.S. Department of Education’s Safe and Supportive Schools Initiative and a NIDA T32 Training Grant (3T32DA007292-21).