ATLANTA—A new study led by public health researchers at Georgia State has found that mental health status significantly affects whether adolescents who use e-cigarettes will begin using cannabis. However, the study also shows that adolescents’ risk for cannabis use differs based on the type of mental health problems they experience.
“We know from existing literature that e-cigarette use is associated with subsequent cannabis use, particularly in youth and young adults. We also know that some population subgroups, such as certain minority populations and those with mental health problems, are more likely to use tobacco products,” said Jidong Huang, associate professor of health management and policy in the School of Public Health and the study’s corresponding author. “What we need to better understand is the link between e-cigarette use and subsequent cannabis use among those subgroups.”
The study, which was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, examined four years of data (from 2013 to 2017) from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, a national longitudinal study of tobacco use and how it affects the health of people in the U.S. The study sample was comprised of youth ages 12 to 17 who reported having never used cannabis at the beginning of the survey period.
Controlling for individual characteristics (such as age, race/ethnicity and parental education) and state recreational cannabis laws, the researchers found…
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ATLANTA—A new study led by public health researchers at Georgia State has found that mental health status significantly affects whether adolescents who use e-cigarettes will begin using cannabis. However, the study also shows that adolescents’ risk for cannabis use differs based on the type of mental health problems they experience.
“We know from existing literature that e-cigarette use is associated with subsequent cannabis use, particularly in youth and young adults. We also know that some population subgroups, such as certain minority populations and those with mental health problems, are more likely to use tobacco products,” said Jidong Huang, associate professor of health management and policy in the School of Public Health and the study’s corresponding author. “What we need to better understand is the link between e-cigarette use and subsequent cannabis use among those subgroups.”
The study, which was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, examined four years of data (from 2013 to 2017) from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, a national longitudinal study of tobacco use and how it affects the health of people in the U.S. The study sample was comprised of youth ages 12 to 17 who reported having never used cannabis at the beginning of the survey period.
Controlling for individual characteristics (such as age, race/ethnicity and parental education) and state recreational cannabis laws, the researchers found…