The increasing use of toxic substances is one of the most serious problems in today’s society. Recent tendencies such as widening of the variety of drugs available, intensity of drug circulation, and the decrease in age for first time users indicates that drug abuse is becoming one of the most alarming problems globally. Marijuana use remains the most widely used drug among the world population, and the number of cannabis users is increasing every year. The major focus of this research is on the young adolescents’ social environment and the risk factors for marijuana use that it produces. The influence of such elements of social environment as family, school, and peers is examined in this study. Evaluating the applicability of some theories, such as social control theory (Hirschi, 1969) and peer cluster theory (Oetting and Beauvais, 1986), to marijuana use of Russian and Canadian samples of adolescents between the ages of 14-16, this research employs the risk-focused approach. This approach requires the identification of risk factors for marijuana use for its prevention. The study involves making a comparative analysis of risk factors for marijuana use produced by social environment of the Canadian and Russian adolescents. The analysis is based on the data obtained within a World Health Organization Cross-National Study “Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children” in 2001/02. The method of logistic regression modeling is applied in order to examine which aspects of social environment of adolescents produce greater risks for marijuana use. The results shows that in spite of the differences between countries, peers have the strongest influence on adolescent marijuana use, which supports peer cluster theory. In addition, the study shows that young people’s own use of licit drugs, such as alcohol and tobacco, significantly increase risks of getting involved in marijuana use, which supports the major gateway hypothesis. Although these variables are not in the major research interest, they have strong predictive power, which can be discussed and examined in detail in future research.

The increasing use of toxic substances is one of the most serious problems in today’s society. Recent tendencies such as widening of the variety of drugs available, intensity of drug circulation, and the decrease in age for first time users indicates that drug abuse is becoming one of the most alarming problems globally. Marijuana use remains the most widely used drug among the world population, and the number of cannabis users is increasing every year. The major focus of this research is on the young adolescents’ social environment and the risk factors for marijuana use that it produces. The influence of such elements of social environment as family, school, and peers is examined in this study. Evaluating the applicability of some theories, such as social control theory (Hirschi, 1969) and peer cluster theory (Oetting and Beauvais, 1986), to marijuana use of Russian and Canadian samples of adolescents between the ages of 14-16, this research employs the risk-focused approach. This approach requires the identification of risk factors for marijuana use for its prevention. The study involves making a comparative analysis of risk factors for marijuana use produced by social environment of the Canadian and Russian adolescents. The analysis is based on the data obtained within a World Health Organization Cross-National Study “Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children” in 2001/02. The method of logistic regression modeling is applied in order to examine which aspects of social environment of adolescents produce greater risks for marijuana use. The results shows that in spite of the differences between countries, peers have the strongest influence on adolescent marijuana use, which supports peer cluster theory. In addition, the study shows that young people’s own use of licit drugs, such as alcohol and tobacco, significantly increase risks of getting involved in marijuana use, which supports the major gateway hypothesis. Although these variables are not in the major research interest, they have strong predictive power, which can be discussed and examined in detail in future research.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the temporal order in the association between marijuana use and depression. There are two possible hypothesis examined, and for each of them is conducted a separate set of analyses. The dependent variable in the first hypothesis is current depression, predicted by previous and current marijuana use, abuse, and dependence. In the second hypothesis the dependent variables are current marijuana use, abuse, and dependence, predicted by previous and current depression. To conduct the analyses this study uses data from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS). The NCS is an epidemiological research study of the prevalence, causes, and consequences of psychiatric disorders and comorbodity, analyzing data from a national sample of 8098 participants covering an age range from 15 to 54 years old. Results show that prior depression is the main predictor of current depression while marijuana use has a weak effect on current depression. Marijuana users are slightly more depressed than never users, but the lag of the effect is short. There is a strong association between marijuana use and abuse and other drug use and abuse. Findings show that prior marijuana and other drug use and abuse predict current marijuana use and abuse. There is a weak association between current depression and current marijuana use, and when controlled for prior marijuana use this association disappears. The results of this study provide no support for the coping theory. There is a clear pattern of comorbidity of both, mental disorders, and substance use and abuse. / Master of Science

No description available.

Undergraduates at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (N = 306) were surveyed to investigate the formation of alcohol and marijuana use motives. Based upon a hypothesized path model effect expectancies, use motives, use frequencies, and use-related problems for alcohol and marijuana were assessed via self-report. Personality factors of sensation-seeking, sociability, and neuroticism-anxiety were also assessed during this single session. Many of the hypothesized pathways were confirmed via multiple regression methods for path analysis. The findings indicated that use motives are related to theoretically more distal influences such as related personality factors and drug effect expectancies. Motives were found to consistently account for substantial variation in use and the development of problems related to alcohol and marijuana in the sample. In some cases these motives not only predicted use, but also appeared to mediate the influences of personality factors and expectancies. Finally, specific motives were found to account for significant variation in the development of substance-related problems even after controlling for the frequency of use. / Master of Science

This study examines the impact of two types of trauma exposure, mistreatment by an adult as a child and exposure to stressful life events as an adolescent, and their impact on marijuana use as an adolescent and emerging adult and marijuana dependence as an adult. This study also investigates the mediating role of depressive symptoms on the relationship between trauma exposure and marijuana use and dependence. The AddHealth dataset, a nationally representative and longitudinal dataset, was used to assess these relationships. Results show that both types of trauma predict marijuana use and dependence. Results also show that there are indirect effects through depressive symptoms. These findings have implications on children and adolescents who are exposed to trauma, parents, teachers, and those working in the fields of mental health and therapy.

abstract: Maternal cigarette smoking and marijuana use during pregnancy are risk factors that can adversely affect offspring. Although a large body of empirical literature has examined the adverse health effects of maternal cigarette smoking and marijuana use during pregnancy, few studies have looked at criminological factors associated with prenatal cigarette smoking and marijuana use. This thesis uses strain theory and social learning theory to explain a number of underlying mechanisms behind why some pregnant women decide to smoke tobacco and marijuana cigarettes during pregnancy. Previous drug involvement before pregnancy is also used to determine if it is a predictor of maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy. Logistic regression was used to analyze data collected from the 1988 National Pregnancy and Infant Health Survey. This data set consists of information gathered from three different national samples of maternal and infant data occurring in 1988, which included 13,417 live births, 4,772 fetal deaths, and 8,166 infant deaths. The mothers in the sample were mailed questionnaires. Results showed that pregnant women who have unexpected pregnancies and experience financial hardship during pregnancy are more likely to smoke cigarettes and use marijuana during pregnancy, which is consistent with the general strain theory. Results also indicate that pregnant women who live in households with other people who smoke are more likely to smoke cigarettes during pregnancy, which may be explained by social learning, and that women who use illegal drugs are less likely to smoke cigarettes during pregnancy, even after controlling for strain and social learning. The practical and theoretical implications for this research are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Criminology and Criminal Justice 2014

Thesis advisor: Thomas M. Crea / Thesis advisor: Oscar A. Martinez / Background: Substance use in adolescence is associated with a vast variety of behavioral and health problems contributing to a public health burden including engagement in risky sexual practices, unwanted pregnancies, increased morbidity and mortality, violent behaviors, and school dropout, among others. The use of alcohol and marijuana in adolescence and young adulthood are risk factors for subsequent substance-related adverse effects. Parents play a key role in the prevention of substance use. This study has the aim of analyzing the influence of parenting styles used during childhood and the rearing process on alcohol and marijuana use among adolescents over time through adulthood. Results will provide information to contribute to “Ensure healthy development for all youth” which is one of the 12 Social Work Grand Challenges introduced by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare in January (2015). According to this initiative, every year, six million young people receive treatment for severe emotional, mental, or behavioral problems. Strong evidence is needed to show how to prevent problem before they emerge and by unleashing the power of prevention, and research can contribute to help youth to become healthy and productive adults (AASWSW, 2015). For the analysis, we use the typology developed by Diane Baumrid (1971) which defines four parenting styles considering the combination of warmth and control exerted by parents: authoritative, authoritarian, neglectful, and permissive. This framework emphasizes the mechanisms behind family contextual factors impacting youth development influencing substance use. Then, we explore the association of such parenting styles stratifying by race-ethnicity considering Whites and Mexican American adolescents. Material and methods: Multilevel, hierarchical regression analysis was conducted using three waves of the Add Health Survey data (Add Health Survey), a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of adolescents between 11 and 19 years old enrolled in grades 7-12 in the United States over four waves. We follow longitudinally the analytic sample of 12,143 participants where 1,640 were Mexican Americans and 10,583 were White Americans. We test the hypotheses of association of alcohol and marijuana use separately considering race-ethnicity, SES, and parenting styles and stratified analysis by parenting style and race-ethnicity for three waves collected in 1995, 2001 and 2008. Results: Alcohol use: Main outcomes for alcohol use were that Mexican American adolescents had no higher rates of alcohol use at baseline and were more likely to use alcohol at the 6 years follow up compared to White adolescents. The association between family SES level and alcohol use was no different at baseline (1995) but those kids in higher family SES level have higher odds of using alcohol than those low family SES in the following six and thirteen years. Regardless of race-ethnicity, adolescents from families with authoritarian parenting style were more likely to consume alcohol at baseline while those with permissive parents are less likely to use it. Adolescents from families with authoritarian parenting style used alcohol at a higher rate in the six years follow up, while those with permissive parents had lower odds of use. Stratified analysis showed that White children whose parents were authoritarian at baseline were more likely to consume alcohol compared to those with authoritative parenting. White adolescents with permissive parenting style had fewer odds of using alcohol at baseline. Mexican and White adolescents whose parents were authoritarian were more likely to use alcohol compared to those whose parents were authoritative at the six years follow up. Mexican American and White adolescents whose parents were permissive were less likely to use alcohol than those whose parents were authoritative at the six years follow up. Marijuana use: Mexican American adolescents have higher rates of use of marijuana compared to White adolescents at baseline and at the 6 years follow up. Independent of race-ethnicity, the association between family SES level and marijuana shows that those adolescents with high family SES showed higher odds of using marijuana at the 6 and 13 years follow up. In the stratified analysis, it was found that white adolescents with higher SES had more odds of using marijuana at six years and after 13 years. Independently of race-ethnicity, adolescents from families with authoritarian and neglectful parenting style were more likely to use marijuana at baseline and less likely to consume it if their parents were permissive compared to those with authoritative parenting style. Also, those youths, whose parents were authoritarian and neglectful at baseline, were more likely to use marijuana in the six years follow up compared to those with authoritative parenting style. However, those with permissive parents had fewer odds of using it in the six years follow up and at the thirteen years follow up compared to those with authoritative parenting styles. Authoritarian parenting style was associated with worse outcomes in terms of marijuana use for White adolescents at baseline and at the six years follow up. Permissive parenting styles was associated with less odds of marijuana use for White adolescents at baseline and at the six years follow up. Also, authoritarian parenting style was associated with higher odds of using marijuana in Mexican American adolescents at the six years follow up while permissive parenting styles was found to reduce the odds of use. The most important gap in terms of risk of using marijuana was found for Mexican American adolescents who were found to have high odds of using marijuana if their parents had been authoritarian or neglectful at baseline, at the six and thirteen years follow up. Findings may be beneficial to prevention specialists in developing programs targeting Mexican American youth to enhance parenting behaviors to deter alcohol and marijuana use. Actions need to be addressed to promote management of adequate parenting styles and better parent-youth relationship for both populations. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

Objective: Cocaine use is prevalent among patients in methadone maintenance and a risk factor for poor treatment outcomes. Contingency management (CM) decreases cocaine use in this population, but little is known about its efficacy when marijuana use is present prior to or during treatment. Method: Data from five randomized CM trials (N = 557) were used to evaluate whether: (a) marijuana frequency (none, low, or high) prior to or during treatment impacts cocaine use outcomes and (b) marijuana use differentially impacts cocaine outcomes with standard care (SC) + CM versus SC alone. Results: Relative to no marijuana use, low (β = .28, p < .01) and high marijuana use (β = .32, p < .05) during treatment were associated with roughly 1 week shorter duration of cocaine abstinence on average. Low marijuana use (β = .71, p < .05) during treatment was associated with a lower proportion of negative cocaine samples during treatment relative to no marijuana use. Treatment group by marijuana use (before or during treatment) interactions on duration and proportion of cocaine abstinence during treatment were not significant. For longer term outcomes, in SC + CM, marijuana use during treatment did not impact cocaine abstinence 6 months post-baseline. In SC, low (OR = .44, p < .05) and high (OR = .26, p < .001) marijuana use during treatment decreased odds of cocaine abstinence at 6 months post-baseline relative to no use. Conclusions: Findings highlight the benefits of SC + CM and abstaining from marijuana use during active treatment. At 6 months postbaseline, SC + CM evidenced similar cocaine abstinence regardless of marijuana use levels during treatment, while those with low and high marijuana use showed decreased abstinence rates in SC only. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Background: Opioid maintenance therapy has been advocated by American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) along with American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) for opioid use disorder in pregnancy. Marijuana use has been increasing with legalization of marijuana in many states along with reported benefit of antiemetic effect in pregnancy. Both have been independently implicated in adverse neonatal outcome but they haven't been studied for concurrent use in pregnancy. Objective: Objective of the study was to look in to the use of opioid and marijuana in pregnancy related with neonatal outcomes; birth weight, Apgar scores,low birth weight, preterm birth along with social determinant of opioid and marijuana use in pregnancy. Design/Methods: A retrospective chart review from July 2011 to June 2016 of all births from 6 delivery hospitals in South-Central Appalachia was conducted to determine pregnancy and neonatal outcomes of pregnancies exposed to any form of opioid and positive urine drug screen (UDS) for marijuana(THC) at the time of delivery. Inclusion criteria were UDS positive for THC at delivery and exposure to opioid during pregnancy.18730 births were identified during the study period, 2638 pregnancy were opioid exposed, and 2375 pregnancies met the inclusion criteria were included for analysis with 108 pregnancies positive for THC in UDS at the time of delivery. Maternal characteristics, delivery and perinatal outcome were studied. Student t-test and Chi-Square test were used for group comparison for presence and absence of marijuana. Logistic regression was done for significant confounding variables like parity, maternal status, tobacco, and benzodiazepine to find aOR for marijuana exposure for NAS diagnosis, premature birth, and low birth weight (LBW). Results: Among opioid using women, marijuana positive women were more likely to be unmarried, nulliparous, and use tobacco and benzodiazepines. Infants born to the marijuana users were likely to be of earlier gestational age (3 days), lower birth weight, and preterm; with preterm birth and low birth weight (mean difference = 265 gms) increased two fold even after controlling for parity, marital status, tobacco and benzodiazepine use with aOR of 2.35 (1.30-4.23) and 2.02 (1.18-3.47) respectively. Conclusion(s): In view of ACOG and ASAM guidelines for continuing opioid for opioid use disorder during pregnancy, finding of increased prematurity along with LBW carries significance of advocating counseling against use of marijuana in pregnancy exposed to opioids.