Health behavior theorists and prevention researchers use a variety of measures of adolescent and young adult (AYA) risk and benefit perceptions to predict tobacco-use and marijuana-use behaviors. However, studies have not examined whether and how perception measures that ask about likelihood of more general outcomes such as “harm” versus ask about specific risk or benefit outcomes compare or whether they differentially predict AYA willingness to use if one of your best friends were to offer it and intentions to use in the next year; and if these measures have differential ability to predict actual use of tobacco and marijuana. We used data from a prospective cohort of California AYAs to create and test new scales to measure perceptions of specific health and social outcomes related to risks (e.g., smell bad) and benefits (e.g., look cool) related to tobacco and marijuana, and then addressed three questions: (1) Whether and how measures of perceptions of specific social and health risks and benefits (for our purposes “specific measures”) and measures of perceived general harm are differentially associated with measures of willingness, social norms, and intentions to use? (2) Are specific versus general measures differentially associated with and predictive of tobacco and cannabis use behavior? (3) Are specific perceptions measures differentially predictive of behavior compared to measures of willingness, social norms, and behavioral intentions? Our results demonstrate that to better predict AYA tobacco and marijuana use, measures that address general outcomes, such as harmfulness, as well as willingness and behavioral intention should be used. We also found that measures of specific perceived risks (short-term, long-term, social) and benefits were unrelated and correlated differently with different products. For example, adolescents perceived both risks and benefits from using products like e-cigarettes, and perceived greater risk from smokeless tobacco compared to combustible cigarettes. These findings indicate that measures of specific perceived social and health outcomes can be useful to discern nuanced differences in motivation for using different substances. Study implications are important for survey dimension-reduction and assessing relationships among perceptions, motivations, and use of tobacco and marijuana products.

健康行为理论家和预防研究人员使用各种衡量青少年和青年 (AYA) 风险和收益认知的方法来预测烟草使用和大麻使用行为。然而，研究并未检验询问更一般结果（例如“伤害”）与询问特定风险或益处结果的可能性的感知测量是否以及如何进行比较，或者如果您最好的朋友之一想要使用 AYA 的意愿，它们是否以及如何进行比较提供并拟在明年使用；以及这些措施是否具有不同的能力来预测烟草和大麻的实际使用情况。我们使用来自加利福尼亚 AYA 的前瞻性队列的数据来创建和测试新的量表，以衡量对与风险（例如，难闻的气味）和收益（例如，看起来很酷）与烟草和大麻有关，然后解决了三个问题：(1) 对特定社会和健康风险和利益的感知措施（我们的目的是“特定措施”）与感知的一般危害的措施是否以及如何存在差异关联使用意愿、社会规范和意图的措施？(2) 特定与一般措施是否与烟草和大麻使用行为有不同的相关性和预测性？(3) 与意愿、社会规范和行为意图的测量相比，特定感知测量对行为的预测是否有差异？我们的结果表明，为了更好地预测 AYA 烟草和大麻的使用，应该使用解决一般结果的措施，例如有害性，以及意愿和行为意图。我们还发现，特定感知风险（短期、长期、社会）和收益的衡量标准与不同产品无关且相关性不同。例如，青少年感知到使用电子烟等产品的风险和收益，并且感知到与可燃卷烟相比无烟烟草的风险更大。这些发现表明，特定感知的社会和健康结果的测量可用于辨别使用不同物质的动机的细微差别。研究意义对于调查维度减少和评估烟草和大麻产品的感知、动机和使用之间的关系很重要。青少年意识到使用电子烟等产品的风险和收益，并且与可燃香烟相比，无烟烟草的风险更大。这些发现表明，特定感知的社会和健康结果的测量可用于辨别使用不同物质的动机的细微差别。研究意义对于调查维度减少和评估烟草和大麻产品的感知、动机和使用之间的关系很重要。青少年意识到使用电子烟等产品的风险和收益，并且与可燃香烟相比，无烟烟草的风险更大。这些发现表明，特定感知的社会和健康结果的测量可用于辨别使用不同物质的动机的细微差别。研究意义对于调查维度减少和评估烟草和大麻产品的感知、动机和使用之间的关系很重要。