Adolescent Substance Use and Addiction Program, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Subst Abus. 2020;41(3):297-300. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2019.1635972. Epub 2019 Jul 30.
Perceived riskiness of marijuana in adolescents has been trending downward in the context of increasing legality and availability. Low perceived riskiness has been associated with marijuana use though evidence is lacking on associations among use and more specific claims about marijuana's safety and benefit, improved understanding of which could guide clinical interventions to reduce use. We analyzed cross-sectional survey data collected from 502 adolescents aged 14-18 years recruited from an urban adolescent primary care clinic. Self-report questionnaires were administered via tablet computer. Use of marijuana was assessed with a brief validated screening tool, and agreement with each of five statements about marijuana's riskiness and health properties were reported using a four-point Likert scale. We conducted multivariable logistic regressions to determine the association between perceived riskiness and other marijuana-related beliefs and past-year marijuana use. In total, 149 adolescents reported past-year marijuana use (29.7%). High overall perceived risk was associated with lower rates of past-year use (AOR 0.27, 95%CI: 0.15-0.48). Agreement with positive health beliefs that "marijuana can help teenagers focus in school" and that "marijuana is safe because it's natural" were associated with past-year marijuana use (respectively, AOR 5.50, 95%CI: 3.06-9.88 and AOR 6.61, 95%CI: 3.59-12.19) while agreement with negative health beliefs that "marijuana can affect youth even after they don't feel high anymore" and that "marijuana can be addictive" were both associated with lower rates of use (AOR 0.56, 95%CI: 0.31-0.99, and AOR 0.30, 95%CI: 0.16-0.56, respectively), adjusting for sociodemographic factors and use of other substances. Marijuana use varied in association with beliefs about its beneficial and harmful health properties. Clinical interventions that target specific marijuana-related health beliefs including unfounded claims of benefit may provide robust talking points for centering provider guidance and public health messaging.
青少年对大麻的感知风险在大麻合法化和普及的背景下呈下降趋势。尽管缺乏使用大麻与更具体的关于大麻安全性和益处的说法之间的关联证据，但较低的感知风险与大麻使用有关，而对这些说法的更多了解可以指导减少使用的临床干预措施。我们分析了从一家城市青少年初级保健诊所招募的 502 名 14-18 岁青少年的横断面调查数据。通过平板电脑进行了自我报告问卷调查。使用简短的经过验证的筛查工具评估了大麻的使用情况，并用四点李克特量表报告了对大麻风险和健康特性的五个陈述中的每一个的同意程度。我们进行了多变量逻辑回归，以确定感知风险与其他与大麻相关的信念和过去一年大麻使用之间的关联。共有 149 名青少年报告过去一年使用过大麻（29.7%）。总体感知风险高与过去一年使用率较低相关（AOR0.27，95%CI：0.15-0.48）。与“大麻可以帮助青少年在学校集中注意力”和“大麻是安全的，因为它是天然的”等积极健康信念的一致性与过去一年的大麻使用相关（分别为 AOR5.50，95%CI：3.06-9.88 和 AOR6.61，95%CI：3.59-12.19），而与“大麻甚至在青少年不再感到兴奋后仍会影响青少年”和“大麻会上瘾”等消极健康信念的一致性与较低的使用率相关（AOR0.56，95%CI：0.31-0.99，AOR0.30，95%CI：0.16-0.56），调整了社会人口因素和其他物质的使用。大麻的使用与对其有益和有害健康特性的信念有关。针对特定大麻相关健康信念的临床干预措施，包括对益处的毫无根据的说法，可能为以提供者指导和公共卫生信息为中心提供有力的话题。
