Is marijuana use significantly correlated with binge drinking, tobacco smoking and physical activity?

• In Event: 2151 - Section on Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco Roundtable
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 3. Factors Associated with Substance Use Roundtables

Abstract

Using data from the 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), this study examined the associations between marijuana use and three health behaviors including binge drinking, tobacco smoking and physical activity and explored whether sex and race-ethnicity moderated these associations (if observed). Linear probability regression modeling was performed to examine the main effects and the interaction effects. The results showed that marijuana use was significantly and positively associated with all three health behavioral outcomes including binge drinking (coefficient=0.184; p<0.01), 100+ cigarette smoking (coefficient=0.231; p<0.01), and physical activity (coefficient=0.032; p<0.05), controlling for age, sex, race-ethnicity, marital status, education and family income. The findings from the interaction analyses showed that the link for binge drinking was significantly weaker compared to other racial-ethnic groups; the link for tobacco smoking was significantly weaker for men than for women; and the link for physical activity is significantly stronger for Hispanics than for other racial-ethnic groups.

Authors

• Calvin Yu, Princeton University

• Ming Wen, University of Utah