Factors mediating the association of the recency of parent’s marijuana use and their adolescent children’s subsequent initiation.

Abstract

This study was designed to determine whether the relation between parents' recency of (lifetime) marijuana use (RMU) and their adolescent children's subsequent marijuana initiation was mediated by the adolescents' expectancies regarding the consequences of usage, their anticipated severity of punishment for use, and their evaluative attitudes toward marijuana. Parents and their initially marijuana-abstinent adolescent children drawn from the National Survey of Parents and Youth were studied (N = 1,399). A bootstrapped multiple mediation analysis tested whether adolescents' expectations, anticipated punishment, and attitudes toward marijuana collected in the first year of the longitudinal study mediated the relationship between parents' RMU and their adolescent children's marijuana initiation 1 year later. Analysis revealed a statistically significant association between the parental measure and youths' subsequent initiation (p < .001). The three mediators were related significantly to parents' RMU and adolescents' usage. Individually, each variable mediated the association of the parental measure and that of their initially abstinent adolescents when usage was assessed 1 year later. The results offer insight into the positive association of parents' RMU with their child's marijuana use and provide insights that may be useful in future prevention efforts.