Multivariate Family Factors in Lifetime and Current Marijuana Use Among American Indian and White Adolescents Residing on or Near Reservations

Introduction. Rates of marijuana use are consistently high among reservation-based American Indian adolescents. Among the various factors that may serve as sources of protection or risk against such use is the role of family, which in a number of ways is unique in this ethnic group. This study examined relationships among distal and proximal family factors and lifetime and current marijuana use among American Indian and white middle and high school students who attend the same schools on or near reservations.

Methods. In-school surveys were administered to 3380 American Indian and 1562 white students from 35 middle schools and 17 high schools regarding levels of marijuana use and family characteristics. Family variables were classified into distal and proximal categories regarding their indirect or direct relationships to marijuana. Parental monitoring, family conflict, and family participation in school were classified as distal factors, and family sanctions against marijuana and family communication about marijuana were classified as proximal factors. Three logistic regression models (Control, Control + Distal; Control + Distal + Proximal) estimated effects of multiple family variables on lifetime and current marijuana use. Control variables included sex and family structure.

Results. Strong effects were found for family structure, parental monitoring, family conflict, and family sanctions against marijuana use. Weaker effects were found for family participation in school events, and no relationship was found for family communication about marijuana. A number of similar results were found across ethnicity and middle and high school students.

 Discussion. These results suggest that family variables exert strong and largely consistent effects across reservation-based American Indian and white youth on lifetime and current marijuana use. Family structure, parental monitoring, and family sanctions against marijuana were particularly strong protective factors, while family conflict was an important risk factor. Interventions that include a broad range of targeted family components may serve to both limit uptake and forestall increases in adolescent marijuana use in these two groups.