Joshua Roesel, “Greater Peer Network Health is Associated with Decreased Adolescent Cannabis Use”
Mentor: Krista Lisdahl, Psychology, Letters & Science (College of)
Poster #134
Peer influence has been identified as a key predictor of adolescent cannabis use initiation. However, very little information has been gathered about the effect that peer networking health (PNH) in adolescents and how this may impact the extent of cannabis use. It was hypothesized that youth with smaller networks would demonstrate greater cannabis use. This study evaluated the association between PNH and frequency of cannabis use in youth enrolled in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (utilizing 5.1 data release). PNH was assessed using a modified version of the Adolescent Social Network Assessment which surveyed youths on their peers’ protective behaviors, such as whether they have encouraged/discouraged things such as drug/alcohol use, participate in clubs, and how they may have helped them in various ways. Using multiple regression, log transformed cannabis use frequency from participants who had engaged in at least one standard dose of cannabis (n = 116, 51% Female, M age 13.7 years old) was regressed on the PNH protective score. Age, sex assigned at birth, race, ethnicity, household income, parental substance use problems, and depressive symptomology were included in the model as control variables. Findings supported the hypothesis that higher PNH protective scores were associated with decreased frequency of adolescent cannabis use (p < 0.001, unique R2 = 0.05), after controlling for covariates. Greater peer network health was significantly linked with reduced early adolescent cannabis use, after controlling for demographics, parental substance use problems and depressive symptoms. Future work should seek to replicate these findings and evaluate the efficacy of PNH-based interventions to reduce adolescent cannabis use. For example, a school-based intervention to create a more supportive atmosphere (i.e., expanding extra-curricular clubs) could have a positive impact on PNH and may indirectly reduce cannabis use.