A Longitudinal Study of Familial Influences on Marijuana Use by Mexican American Middle School Students

Abstract

The purposes of this longitudinal parent-child investigation were to: (a) investigate the influence of familial factors (marital status of the husband and wife, family transience, adult cigarette smokers in the home, and parent-child communication style) on the use of marijuana among Mexican American middle school youth, and (b) use a growth curve model to estimate and examine the effect of time on the pattern and change rate of marijuana use among Mexican American school-age youth over a three year period. Methodologically, this was accomplished by applying a random-effects model in which student characteristics were construed as fixed effects at the micro-level and familial factors were treated as random effects at the macro-level in their relation to students' use of marijuana over a three year period. Results indicated that marijuana use increased across time among the students. Also, the quality of parent-child communication differentiated marijuana users from non-users. Gender of students, adults smoking cigarettes in the home, family transience, and divorce were all significantly related to substance use in the population studied.