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The Role of Norms in Marijuana Use Among American Indian Adolescents

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Abstract

American Indian adolescents residing on reservations report high levels of marijuana use. Understanding the relationships between normative mechanisms and marijuana use in this group can be especially important in designing effective strategies to prevent use. Participants were 3446 students identifying as American Indian in grades 7–12 across four academic years (2009–2012) from 45 schools. Multilevel logistic analysis was used to examine the relationships between lifetime, last month, and frequent marijuana use and measures of the normative environment. Descriptive and injunctive norms were distinctly and directly associated with all measures of marijuana use, with family injunctive norms showing a strong relationship to use (0.49 < OR < 0.58 for a 9th grade student). Family injunctive norms moderated the relationship between descriptive norms and lifetime and last month use (OR = 0.79 and 0.82, respectively), with higher family disapproval associated with a weaker relationship between descriptive norms and use. Anticipatory socialization was positively related to all measures of marijuana use, with the relationship stronger for lifetime and last month use than for frequent use (OR = 1.88, 1.74, and 1.30, respectively). A contextual variable of descriptive norms was related to lifetime and last month use (OR = 1.66 and 1.51, respectively) but not frequent use. These findings reinforce the importance of parental norms in reducing the likelihood of using marijuana. In addition, prevention strategies that increase the perception that healthy behaviors not involving marijuana use are an enjoyable way to socialize may be more effective in preventing occasional marijuana use.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tri-Ethnic Center for Prevention Research, Colorado State University, Sage Hall, 1879 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1879, USA

    Linda R. Stanley, Randall C. Swaim & Sara E. Dieterich

Authors
  1. Linda R. Stanley
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  2. Randall C. Swaim
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  3. Sara E. Dieterich
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Linda R. Stanley.

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Funding

The original study was supported by NIH Grant R01DA003371, Fred Beauvais PI.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study were approved by an institutional IRB and were in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Passive parental consent was obtained for the survey because all data is anonymous; students were informed that participation in the survey was voluntary.

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Stanley, L.R., Swaim, R.C. & Dieterich, S.E. The Role of Norms in Marijuana Use Among American Indian Adolescents. Prev Sci 18, 406–415 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-017-0768-2

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