Prevalence and Predictors of “Heavy” Marijuana Use in a Canadian Youth Sample

Abstract

In this investigation, secondary analyses were performed on an extensive database for 473 biological and 128 adoptive families. These data, which were gathered as part of the Vancouver Family Survey, were used to examine the prevalence and predictors of “heavy” marijuana use in a Canadian youth sample aged 14–25. Results in this study showed that 12.6% of the sample reported using marijuana once a week or more. These respondents were categorized as “heavy” marijuana users. Higher levels of life problems were associated with this use pattern. Results from a series of regression analyses suggested that the family, personality, and peer domains all contributed significantly in predicting “heavy” marijuana use. Father's alcoholism and peer illicit drug use had direct relationships with heavy marijuana use in this final model. A possible mediated pathway was also suggested with the Addiction Prone Personality influencing use through its relationship with heavier peer drug use.

Keywords:

• “heavy”
• marijuana use
• epidemiology
• addiction prone personality
• family
• peer drug use

Notes

The journal's style utilizes the category substance abuse as a diagnostic category. Substances are used or misused; living organisms are and can be abused. Editor's note.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gordon E. Barnes

Dr. Gordon Barnesis a full professor in the School of Child and Youth Care with extensive experience in the addictions area in fields of teaching, research, and community-based projects. Before joining the School of Child and Youth Care Gordon held appointments in the departments of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Family Studies at the University of Manitoba. While in the Department of Psychiatry, Gordon held a National Health Research Scholar Award. Gordon first began to work in the addictions area while working on his doctoral thesis in the area of Social Psychology at York University over 30 years ago. Since that time, the focus for Gordon's research has been on trying to develop a better understanding of the social and individual difference variables that predict substance misuse. Gordon has numerous publications in the addictions area on the following topics: smoking, heroin addiction, alcoholism, marijuana use, solvent abuse, and polydrug use. Most notable of these publications is a coauthored book on the Addiction Prone Personality published by Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press in the year 2000. Gordon is an avid golfer and enjoys traveling.

Michael D. Barnes

Michael Barnes recently obtained his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Victoria. Michaels's main areas of interest are in the fields of Organizational Behavior and Health Psychology. Michael is also interested in Sports Psychology and is a certified personal trainer. Mike is also an avid sportsman and enjoys spending time outdoors with his dog.

David Patton

David Patton received his Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba in 1994. He has worded in the addictions area for about 20 years, mostly looking at personality characteristics associated with drinking and drug use. He has received research awards from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Manitoba Health Research Council, and the National Health Research and Development Program. During graduate school, he published a number of articles in the addiction field and made numerous presentations at national and international conferences. In 2001, he co-authored a book with Dr. Barnes entitled The Addiction Prone Personality. He has worked as a policy analyst with the Manitoba government, evaluating changes to the primary health care system. Currently, David, is the Research Director at the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, which is a Crown Corporation whose mandate is to deliver prevention and rehabilitation services related to addictions. David is an avid sportsman and dedicated family man.