Abstract

Background: Public acceptance of cannabis continues to increase across the US, yet there has been little research on how cannabis legalization affects young children. The present study compared knowledge of cannabis and other substances among children living in states with different cannabis laws and examined whether the association between such substance knowledge and externalizing behavior varies by state cannabis regulations. Methods: Participants were from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development^SM Study (ABCD Study®) at the baseline assessment (N = 11,875, ages 9–11, collected from 2016 to 2018). Chi-square difference tests were used to compare nested models testing group differences in knowledge of substances and the association between externalizing disorder/behavior and substance knowledge as a function of state legality of cannabis use (recreational, medical, low THC/CBD, none). Results: Children living in states with more permissive cannabis laws had a greater knowledge of cannabis and reported more alcohol experimentation. In contrast, knowledge regarding alcohol, tobacco, and other illicit drugs was not greater in children from states with more permissive cannabis laws. Externalizing disorder/behavior was not significantly associated with cannabis knowledge in any group and not significantly different across groups. The association between externalizing disorder/behavior and illicit drug knowledge was significant only in states with the recreational and medical use laws but did not differ significantly across groups. Conclusion: Children living in environments with more permissive cannabis regulations have greater knowledge of cannabis, but not other substances, and report more experimentation with alcohol.

摘要

背景：美国公众对大麻的接受度不断提高，但关于大麻合法化如何影响幼儿的研究却很少。本研究比较了生活在不同大麻法律州的儿童对大麻和其他物质的了解，并检查了此类物质知识与外化行为之间的关联是否因州大麻法规而异。方法: 参与者来自基线评估时的青少年大脑认知发展^SM研究 (ABCD Study® ) = 11,875，年龄在 9-11 岁，从 2016 年到 2018 年收集）。卡方差异检验用于比较嵌套模型测试组在物质知识方面的差异以及外化障碍/行为与物质知识之间的关联作为大麻使用国家合法性的函数（娱乐、医疗、低 THC/CBD、无） . 结果：生活在大麻法律更宽松的州的儿童对大麻有更多的了解，并报告了更多的酒精实验。相比之下，大麻法更宽松的州的儿童对酒精、烟草和其他非法药物的了解并不多。在任何组中，外化障碍/行为与大麻知识没有显着相关性，并且在各组之间没有显着差异。外化障碍/行为与非法药物知识之间的关联仅在具有娱乐和医疗使用法的州中显着，但在各组之间没有显着差异。结论：生活在大麻法规更宽松的环境中的儿童对大麻有更多的了解，但对其他物质却没有，并且报告说他们对酒精进行了更多的实验。