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Published on: August 1, 2025
Marijuana motives: young adults' reasons for using marijuana
Christine M Lee1, Clayton Neighbors, Briana A Woods
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Box 354694, Seattle, WA 98105, USA. leecm@u.washington.edu
Abstract:
Previous research has evaluated marijuana motives among adolescents and emerging adults using a predetermined set of motives, largely adapted from the alcohol literature. This research was designed to identify marijuana motives from the perspective of the user. Recent high school graduates who reported using marijuana (N=634) provided self-generated reasons for using. The most frequently reported reasons included enjoyment/fun, conformity, experimentation, social enhancement, boredom, and relaxation. Regression analyses revealed that experimentation was consistently associated with less use and fewer problems whereas enjoyment, habit, activity enhancement, and altered perception or perspectives were associated with heavier use and more problems.
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