Abstract

African American adolescents use marijuana at higher rates and may be more vulnerable to psychosocial risk factors for marijuana use, including depression, post-traumatic stress, and having substance-using peers, compared to Caucasian adolescents. Little is known about how these factors contribute to African American adolescents’ motives for marijuana use. This study examined the roles of depressive and post-traumatic stress symptoms and substance-using peers on marijuana use motives among African American adolescents and emerging adults and whether these motives predicted marijuana use. Findings suggest that identifying motives for marijuana use may help improve approaches to reduce use among this population.

摘要

与白人青少年相比，非洲裔美国青少年吸食大麻的比例更高，并且可能更容易受到吸食大麻的心理社会风险因素的影响，包括抑郁、创伤后应激障碍以及有吸食毒品的同龄人。人们对这些因素如何影响非裔美国青少年吸食大麻的动机知之甚少。这项研究探讨了非裔美国青少年和新兴成年人中抑郁症和创伤后应激症状以及物质使用同龄人对大麻使用动机的影响，以及这些动机是否预示着大麻的使用。研究结果表明，确定吸食大麻的动机可能有助于改进减少该人群吸食大麻的方法。