Prevalence and Correlates of Concurrent and Simultaneous Cannabis and Cigarette Use among Past-Year Cannabis-Using US College Students

Abstract

Background: Cannabis and tobacco use are significant public health concerns among young adults, with concurrent (in the same time period) and simultaneous (at the same time so the effects overlap) use of both substances on the rise. Few studies have examined these behaviors among college students. Objective: We examined the prevalence of concurrent and simultaneous cannabis and cigarette (combustible or electronic) use among a sample of college students and characterized the psychosocial predictors of concurrent and simultaneous use compared to using cannabis alone. Methods: Data on past-3 months cannabis and cigarette use were collected on 1352 college students who were past-year cannabis and alcohol users yielding four groups: cannabis-only users (n = 686), concurrent cannabis and cigarette users (CCAC; n = 235), simultaneous cannabis and cigarette users (SCAC; n = 293), and non-recent users of either substance (n = 138). Multinomial logistic regression analyses were utilized to predict group membership. Results: Relative to the cannabis-only group, White, compared to Non-White students, males, compared to females, frequent, compared to infrequent, alcohol users, including those who used alcohol simultaneously with cigarettes, and illicit drug users were more likely to belong to the CCAC or SCAC group. Conclusions: Findings suggest the need for unique intervention efforts to prevent onset or reduce co-use among male and White students as well as illicit drug users and frequent alcohol users.

Keywords:

• Cannabis
• tobacco
• cigarettes
• concurrent use
• simultaneous use
• college students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author notes

Ethical Standards: The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.

Data statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, L. R., upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (1R01DA040880).