Intergenerational marijuana use: A life course examination of the relationship between parental trajectories of marijuana use and the onset of marijuana use by offspring.

Abstract

Prior research documents intergenerational (IG) continuity in marijuana use, with most work adopting a life course perspective. Incorporating a methodology that allows for the measurement of "patterns of behavior" instead of singular aspects of parent marijuana use (e.g., age of onset or frequency at any one age or ages), we investigated the simultaneous effects of parental age of onset, frequency, and duration of marijuana use across 3 periods of the life course (i.e., adolescence, emerging adulthood, and adulthood) on the timing of first marijuana use among offspring. Using prospective data from 2 companion studies, the Rochester Youth Development Study and the Rochester Intergenerational Study, we used group-based trajectory models to estimate trajectories (or patterns) of parental marijuana use spanning ages 14 to 31 among a birth cohort of 462 parents. We then examined the relationship between parental trajectories of marijuana use and the timing of the onset of marijuana use through age 25 among firstborn offspring. Both late-onset persistent use by parents and increasing chronic use spanning adolescence to adulthood by parents were associated with an increased likelihood of onset of marijuana use among offspring. The results underscore the importance of patterns of marijuana use for IG continuity in contrast to singular measures (e.g., age of onset among parents), which can obfuscate important IG patterns of continuity. Prevention and intervention programs should consider the entire history of parent use to better identify children most at risk for the onset of marijuana use in adolescence and emerging adulthood.

Does It Run in the Family? Intergenerational Transmission of Household Dysfunctions

“…In contrast to other family dysfunctions, studies have mainly yielded mixed results regarding household substance abuse and intergenerational transmission (Langevin et al, 2019). The studies showing a positive link between the two variables showed that children whose parents consume illegal substances were more likely to also use drugs (Augustyn et al, 2020;Kerr et al, 2020). In some studies, this negative effect was even present across three generations (Neppl et al, 2020;Tiberio et al, 2020).…”

Understanding the intergenerational transmission of substance use and problem behavior: Implications for future research and preventive interventions.

“…Bears Augustyn et al (2020) found that offspring of parents who initiated marijuana use early and escalated use over time (chronic use) had an increased likelihood of onset of marijuana use during adolescence. The same was true for children of parents who started using marijuana late in adolescence and persisted with moderate use in adulthood.…”

“…Epstein et al (2020) found that children of early-onset substance use parents were a high-risk group for initiating their own substance use early in life, while Tiberio et al (2020) found that marijuana use versus no use, but not parents’ age of first use during adolescence, was predictive of children’s future marijuana use. Last, but not least, the Bears Augustyn et al (2020) study revealed that parents’ age of onset was important in a counterintuitive manner: Children of parents who started marijuana use in early adolescence and persisted moderate use through adulthood presented the lowest risk of initiating their own use. By the same token, children of late-onset parents whose use also persisted in a moderate manner through adulthood presented the highest onset risk profile.…”

“…They also collected strong measures of developmental covariates; for example, studies considered contextual factors such as neighborhood and sociodemographic status and family factors such as family bonding and family conflicts (Epstein, Bailey, Furlong, Steeger, & Hill, 2020), parenting styles (Neppl, Diggs, & Cleveland, 2020), and video observations of family interactions (Neppl et al, 2020). Finally, all studies used sophisticated analytic methods including group-based trajectory modeling (Bears Augustyn, Loughran, Larroulet, Fulco, & Henry, 2020), discrete-time survival analysis (Kerr, Tiberio, Capaldi, & Owen, 2020; Tiberio et al, 2020), multilevel modeling (Epstein et al, 2020; Rothenberg et al, 2020), and structural equation modeling (Neppl et al, 2020).…”

Increasing collaboration and translation in epidemiology and intervention research.

“…The studies vary with respect to how different aspects (e.g., age of onset) and trajectories of parental substance use (e.g., early-onset persistent vs. late-onset persistent) are related to child substance use as well as how use of specific drugs in one generation is associated with the use of specific drugs in the next generation (e.g., cannabis in G1 to cannabis, alcohol, and/or tobacco in G2). Bears Augustyn, Loughran, Larroulet, Fulco, and Henry (2020) note the value of looking at patterns or full trajectories of parent use across life periods, rather than a singular aspect of parent cannabis use (e.g., age of onset) to fully uncover associations with offspring use. Findings by Tiberio, Kerr, Bailey, Henry, and Capaldi (2020) also suggest the importance of examining patterns beyond a singular variable.…”