Sharing pro-marijuana messaging on social media: The moderating role of legislation

Abstract

Objectives

This study investigates whether recreational marijuana legislation and perceived social norms (descriptive and injunctive) affect college students’ propensity to share pro-marijuana messages. We examine which referent group (close friends, typical student, parents) most influence those norms. Participants: A sample of 343 college students participated in the study. Of these students, 214 were from Washington State, where recreational marijuana is legal, and 129 were from Wyoming, where recreational marijuana is illegal. Method: Data, from an online survey, were analyzed through PROCESS analyses. Results: College students in Washington State who believed a typical peer would want them to share pro-marijuana messaging were marginally more likely to share pro-marijuana messages than their counterparts in Wyoming. However, among students who thought a typical peer would not approve of them sharing pro-marijuana messaging, the opposite pattern emerged. Conclusion: Restrictive recreational marijuana legislation does not uniformly abate related message sharing on social media.

Keywords:

• College students
• law
• marijuana
• social media
• social norms

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Eric Shouse for his contributions to the manuscript.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Washington State University.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.

Notes

1 In the paper, the terms marijuana and recreational marijuana are used interchangeably. Recreational marijuana is marijuana that is consumed for “recreational purposes” or any reason deemed acceptable to the user other than a medical necessity.