Session: Predicting Marijuana Use Across the Life Course and Across Generations: Implications for Prevention in the Context of Marijuana Legalization (Society for Prevention Research 23rd Annual Meeting)

As of November 2014, four U.S. states (AK, WA, OR, CO) and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana use and possession for adults.  The implications of marijuana legalization for adult use are completely unknown, although many fear that the prevalence, frequency, quantity, and persistence of marijuana use will increase. Further, many prevention scientists expect that increases in marijuana use also will be observed among youth, even though marijuana use remains illegal for them. The present symposium aims to inform marijuana prevention efforts and further understanding of the etiology of marijuana use by examining environmental, individual, and cross-generational factors associated with marijuana use. The presentations draw from three longitudinal studies: the Raising Healthy Children study, the Seattle Social Development Project, and the SSDP Intergenerational Project. Paper 1 examined reciprocal influence between cigarette and marijuana use from ages 13-33, and showed support for the gateway hypothesis (cigarette use leads to marijuana use) in adolescence and an apparent change in the direction of causality in young adulthood (marijuana use to cigarette use). Paper 2 used time-varying effects modeling to document changes in the strength of association between family bonding and marijuana use from ages 10-25 and tested differences by gender, behavioral disinhibition, and parent substance use/nonuse. Finally, Paper 3 used accelerated longitudinal data linking three generations to examine associations between parental and grandparental marijuana use and child cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use. These studies illustrate how etiological studies can help inform policy makers and voters about the potential impact of marijuana legalization. Results are relevant to this year’s theme, "Integrating Prevention Science and Public Policy," and in particular to the special emphasis on “Prevention Science and Emerging High-Priority Policy Issues.”