Parents' Marijuana Use Influences Children's Age of Initiation

It has long been accepted that parents influence the patterns of drug use and misuse in their offspring. It is no secret that children of patterns who use illicit drugs are at a higher risk for using similar drugs than children without parents who use drugs. However, a new study delve deep into why it is that these patterns exist. Little research has been done prior to this study about the reasons behind the proven relationship.

The study was designed to study relation between how recent it's been since the parent used marijuana and the age of initiation for the child. Using self-report, the researchers found that the more recent in their lifetime the parent's used marijuana, the more likely the child was to start using the drug at a younger age. The study was able to conclude that the reason behind the early age of initiation was due to the fact that the children of parents who more recently used marijuana were less apprehensive about the drug. The researchers found that those children were less afraid of the repercussions and felt their use of the drug was more expected.

The findings of this study provide interesting insight into the reasons behind the relationship between parent drug use and subsequent child drug use in reference to marijuana and may be an interesting link for intervention purposes in the future.

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