Assessing the Association between Movie Depictions of Marijuana and Use of Marijuana by Youth and Young Adults

• In Event: Predicting and Explaining Drug Use

Abstract

While movies create fictional worlds, empirical evidence suggests that popular media influences individual attitudes and behaviors, especially among youth. Existing research in this area suggests that media effects operate in direct and indirect ways on a wide array of risky behaviors (e.g., sex, violence, reckless driving, and substance use). However, very little research in this field has specifically investigated whether marijuana depictions in film influence perceptions and use of marijuana among young people. In this paper, we employ time series vector autoregression models (VARs) within a Granger causality framework to examine whether movie depictions of marijuana in the annual top-100 grossing films between 1996 and 2014 influence marijuana attitudes and prevalence among U.S. youth and young adults, while controlling for other secular trends in public opinion and marijuana laws. Movie data is derived from the Dartmouth Visual Media Project, which content analyzes the top films annually for a variety of risky behaviors. Our analyses begin by presenting descriptive information on series trends. We then estimate a series of VAR models focusing on marijuana perception and use outcomes derived from national surveys. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and policy implications of our results.

Authors

• Kirsten Hill, Georgia State University

• Eric Sevigny, Georgia State University