Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

School

Health Services

Advisor

Tolulope Osoba

Abstract

State medical marijuana legalization (MML) may contribute to increased cannabis use among older adolescents, especially African American youth and adolescents with depression. This quantitative cross-sectional correlational study, which utilized Smart’s availability-proneness theory of drug use as a guiding framework, had a two-fold purpose: to determine if state MML status and self-reported depression were significantly related to past-month marijuana use and to assess if state MML status significantly moderated between depression and past-month marijuana use. The study utilized data from 1,391 African American late adolescents (aged 16-20) who participated in the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted to address the study’s three research questions. Findings showed that state MML status was not significantly related to the youth’s past-month cannabis use. However, a diagnosis of depression was significantly associated with past month cannabis use. Depressed adolescents had a 73% increased probability using cannabis in the past month as compared to adolescents without depression. Findings further showed that state MML status significantly moderated between depression and past-month cannabis use. Study findings may be used for positive social change informing the development of interventions and programs aimed at preventing or treating African American youth with depression and/or heavy cannabis use, especially those residing in MML states.

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