The Relationship of Stress and Coping Methods to Adolescent Marijuana Use

As the use of marijuana among adolescents remains high, more effective interventions are needed. We conducted this cross-sectional survey at an outpatient, university-based, adolescent clinic to determine the prevalence of marijuana use in an inner-city adolescent population and to examine the relationship of stress and coping methods to marijuana user status (never user, experimenter, and frequent user). The subjects were 918 adolescents aged 12-21 years. Lifetime use in this population was 59% (n = 611) with 18.4% (n = 191) reporting frequent weekly use. Almost all (97%) marijuana users acknowledged marijuana use by friends. Stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that negative life events, greater use of the negative coping method of anger and less frequent use of the positive coping method of parental support were significantly and independently related to marijuana user status. In the presence of high peer use, exploring parent-child relationships and use of anger coping and intervening accordingly may decrease marijuana use.