Influences of behavior and academic problems at school entry on marijuana use transitions during adolescence in an African-American sample

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to examine how patterns of academic and behavior problems in first grade relate to longitudinal transitions in marijuana use from middle school through entry into high school among African Americans. Methods: Latent class and latent transition analyses were conducted on a community sample of 458 low-income, urban-dwelling African-Americans. Results: Two behavior problem classes emerged at school entry; externalizing and attention/concentration. Academic problems co-occurred with both problem behavior classes although more strongly with attention/concentration. Youth in the attention/ concentration problem class were more likely to transition from no marijuana involvement to use and problems beginning in 7th grade and to use and problems given the opportunity to use marijuana early in high school compared to youth with no problems. Youth in the externalizing behavior problem class were significantly more likely to transition from no involvement to having a marijuana opportunity during the transition to high school compared to youth in the attention/concentration problems class. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of developing prevention programs and providing school services that address the co-occurrence of academic and behavior problems, as well as their subtype specific risks for marijuana involvement, particularly for low-income minority youth who may be entering school less ready than their non-minority peers. These findings also provide evidence for a need to continue to deliver interventions in middle and high school focused on factors that may protect youth during these critical transition periods when they may be especially vulnerable to opportunities to use marijuana based on their academic and behavioral risk profile.

Overlap of heritable influences between cannabis use disorder, frequency of use and opportunity to use cannabis: trivariate twin modelling and implications for genetic design

“…Previous research has identified conduct disorder influences transitions to cannabis use opportunity, and from the opportunity to dependence (Hines et al 2016). This is in line with existing research demonstrating the consistent influence of conduct disorder on drug use (Lynskey et al 2002; Storr et al 2011; Reboussin et al 2015), and genes relating to conduct disorder and involvement with deviant peers (Gillespie et al 2009 a ) are plausible candidates for the shared genetic liability between age of opportunity and the development of cannabis abuse/dependence. Additionally, personality factors associated with drug use (Malmberg et al 2010), such as sensation seeking, may underlie this shared genetic liability.…”

Onset of opportunity to use cannabis and progression from opportunity to dependence: Are influences consistent across transitions?

“…In Chile and the US, males have been found to be slightly more likely than females to have a chance to use cannabis (Caris et al, 2009; Van Etten and Anthony, 1999), but these gender differences have not been consistently observed (Wells et al, 2011). Childhood religious practices are associated with decreased likelihood of cannabis use opportunity (Chen et al, 2004), and those with externalising behaviour problems have been found to be more likely to have a cannabis use opportunity (Neumark et al, 2012; Reboussin et al, 2015). Perhaps unsurprisingly given that first cannabis use opportunity typically occurs in late childhood or early adolescence, lower parental involvement and higher levels of coercive discipline have been found to be associated with increased likelihood of cannabis use opportunity (Chen et al, 2005).…”

An Adverse Family Environment During Adolescence Predicts Marijuana Use and Antisocial Personality Disorder in Adulthood

“…A number of longitudinal studies have found a temporal relationship between earlier delinquent behavior and later marijuana use in adolescence as well as in adulthood (Becker et al 2012; Brook et al 2011; Reboussin et al 2015). For example, Reboussin et al (2015) found that youths who engaged in externalizing behavior were significantly more likely to transition from no marijuana involvement to the use of marijuana using a community sample of 458 low-income, urban-dwelling African Americans.…”

“…For example, Reboussin et al (2015) found that youths who engaged in externalizing behavior were significantly more likely to transition from no marijuana involvement to the use of marijuana using a community sample of 458 low-income, urban-dwelling African Americans. In contrast, religiousness seemed to have a protective effect on marijuana use.…”