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Principal Investigator: Hongying Daisy Dai
Organization: UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $236,947
Funding agency: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
Project Summary
Marijuana use among youth has been increasing, with considerably enlarged disparities across
racial/ethnic groups. Racial minorities like African American (AA) adolescents are more likely to report
marijuana use than their White peers. Marijuana use during adolescence can harm brain development and
lead to other substance abuse and adverse health outcomes. In order to identify potential targets for
interventions to reduce health disparities, there is a critical need to distinguish risk and protective factors for
marijuana use that are specific to race and ethnicity. With a shifting legal environment for marijuana use in the
United States and more adults supporting marijuana legalization, it is estimated that 8.2% of mothers and 9.6%
of fathers living with adolescent offspring reported past-year marijuana use. The family environment is a major
driver of youth development, and racial and ethnic families often experience greater exposure to systemic
oppression (e.g., institutional and interpersonal racism, bias, and discrimination) and higher social inequality
than their White peers, resulting in acute and chronic stress. Therefore, we hypothesize that parental
marijuana use independently predicts offspring marijuana and other substance use, and intergenerational
effects of marijuana use may be stronger among racial and ethnic families, especially among AA families. The
overarching goal of this mixed-methods sequential explanatory study is to assess racial disparities in
relationships between parental marijuana use and youth substance use. In Aim 1, we will leverage a
longitudinally national survey with 5 waves of parent and offspring data (n≈3,272) to examine the
intergenerational association between G1 marijuana use and subsequent G2 marijuana, vaping, tobacco, and
other illicit drug use across distinct racial/ethnic groups (AAs, H/Ls vs. non-Hispanic Whites). In Aim 2, we will
assess moderation and mediation effects from marijuana legalization status and other determinants (e.g.,
discrimination and psychological distress) across racial/ethnic groups. In Aim 3, we will conduct semi-
structured interviews of parent marijuana users and their offspring (n≈96 each) to qualitatively examine the
intersections of parent influences and policy change on youth substance use. Analyses of intergenerational
and longitudinal surveys and semi-structured interviews will be fully integrated to complement each other and
provide more robust findings. This study is innovative in its focus on assessing racial disparities in the
intergenerational transmission of marijuana use in AAs and H/Ls, two NIH-designated health disparity
populations. This study is also timely in responding to the rapidly shifting policy environment, rising marijuana
use among youth and adults, and growing disparities by racial/ethnic group, with unknown etiology on the
intergenerational drug use by racial/ethnic groups. The findings will inform the development of a future R01 to
test tailored strategies to prevent youth marijuana and other substance use and reduce health disparities.
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Terms: <0-11 years old><12-20 years old><18 year old><18 years of age><21+ years old><Adolescence><Adolescent><Adolescent Youth><Adult><Adult Human><African American><African American group><African American individual><African American people><African American population><African Americans><Afro American><Afroamerican><Age><Behavior><Brain><Brain Nervous System><Cannabis law><Cannabis policy><Causality><Child><Child Youth><Children (0-21)><Chronic stress><Cognitive Discrimination><Communities><Complement><Complement Proteins><Counseling><Data><Data Bases><Databases><Decrease health disparities><Development><Discrimination><Disparities><Disparity><Drug usage><Drugs><Encephalon><Environment><Ethnic Group><Ethnic Origin><Ethnic People><Ethnic Population><Ethnic individual><Ethnicity><Ethnicity People><Ethnicity Population><Etiology><Exposure to><Family><Fathers><Future><Generalized Growth><Goals><Growth><Health><Health disparity mitigation><Health disparity reduction><High School Student><Hispanic Populations><Hispanic group><Hispanic individual><Hispanic people><Hispanics><Household><Individual><Institution><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Interview><Latino Population><Latino group><Latino individual><Latino people><Latinos><Legal><Legal Status><Link><Longitudinal Surveys><Lower health disparities><Marijuana><Mediating><Mediation><Medication><Mental Health><Mental Hygiene><Methods><Mitigate health disparities><Modeling><Mothers><NIH><National Institutes of Health><Negotiating><Negotiation><Non-Hispanic><Nonhispanic><Not Hispanic or Latino><Outcome><Parents><Perception><Pharmaceutical Preparations><Policies><Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health><Prevalence><Psychologic Stress><Psychological Health><Psychological Stress><Race><Races><Racial Group><Reduce health disparities><Regression Analyses><Regression Analysis><Regression Diagnostics><Reporting><Risk><Risk Factors><Secondary School Student><Secondary Student><Social Change><Social modification><Social status><Social transformation><Socio-economic status><Socioeconomic Status><Statistical Regression><Stress><Structure><Substance abuse problem><Survey Instrument><Surveys><THC co-use><THC use><Testing><Tetrahydrocannabinol co-use><Tetrahydrocannabinol use><Tissue Growth><Tobacco><Transmission><United States><United States National Institutes of Health><Youth><Youth 10-21><abuse of substances><acute stress><adolescence (12-20)><adolescent offspring><adolescent substance use><adulthood><age 18 years><ages><cannabis legalization><cannabis regulation><cannabis use><cannabis use law><cannabis use policy><cannabis user><causation><complementation><data base><developmental><disease causation><disparate effect><disparate impact><disparate result><disparities in race><disparity due to race><drug use><drug use behavior><drug/agent><eighteen year old><eighteen years of age><ethnic subgroup><ethnicity group><experience><health data><health disparity community><health disparity group><health disparity populations><high schoolers><illicit drug use><inequality due to race><inequitable effect><inequitable impact><inequitable outcome><inequity due to race><innovate><innovation><innovative><intergenerational><interventional strategy><juvenile><juvenile human><kids><legal marijuana><legalized cannabis><legalized marijuana><low SES><low socio-economic position><low socio-economic status><low socioeconomic position><low socioeconomic status><marihuana><marijuana law><marijuana legalization><marijuana policy><marijuana use><marijuana user><offspring><ontogeny><outcome disparities><outcome inequality><outcome inequity><parent><parent influence><parental influence><peer><prevent><preventing><prospective><protective factors><psychological distress><race based disparity><race based inequality><race based inequity><race disparity><race related disparity><race related inequality><race related inequity><racial><racial background><racial disparity><racial inequality><racial inequity><racial minority><racial origin><racial population><racial subgroup><racially unequal><racism><screening><screenings><sex><social disadvantage><social disparities><social inequality><social norm><social position><social standing><socio-economic position><socioeconomic position><substance abuse><substance use><substance use among adolescents><substance use among youth><substance using><transmission process><unequal effect><unequal impact><unequal outcome><vaping><youngster><youth substance use>