Parental influences on African American adolescent marijuana use

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of parental factors on annual (past year) marijuana use in African American youth within the Greater Cincinnati area. The following research questions were examined for this study: (1) Do family structure, parental education and parental job status impact African American adolescent marijuana use? (2) Does impact of these variables differ based on sex and grade? Participants were African American students in 7th through 12th grade (n = 7488) in schools within the Greater Cincinnati area. Logistic regression analyses revealed that annual marijuana use differed based on family structure, parental education, and parental job status. More specifically, annual marijuana use was lowest among students who lived with both of their biological parents, had parents who had some college experience and had parents who were employed. Findings should be considered by health educators and prevention specialists when developing programs and efforts to prevent youth marijuana use.