Beyond Smoking: Differentiating Marijuana Consumption Methods Among College Students

• In Event: Novel Methods In Drugs and Health Research

Abstract

Young adulthood is a key period for the development of health behaviors, including marijuana use. As legalization expands, marijuana consumption may be easily attained through different modalities, such as smoking, vaping, and edibles. Yet, despite the diversification in consumption methods, research has largely treated marijuana use as a single behavior, except for a handful of qualitative research studies indicating that use of different marijuana modalities might be connected to different belief systems about them. The present study examined modality-specific marijuana use among 583 undergraduate students at a large Midwestern U.S. university during the first year of legalization using a quantitative scale developed from prior qualitative research. Exploratory factor analysis, along with preliminary reliability and validity analyses, was conducted to inform the development of the scale. Multinomial logistic regressions were then used to examine their ability to predict use across different marijuana modalities. Findings showed that students’ beliefs clustered around three factors: smoking as traditional and socially meaningful, vaping as convenient and socially acceptable, and edibles as safer or preferable. Each factor uniquely predicted higher odds of corresponding modality use, suggesting that marijuana consumption among young adults reflects distinct, belief-driven patterns rather than a single behavior. Results suggest that public health messaging should target belief systems rather than marijuana use broadly.

Authors

• Jennifer L. Steele, Ohio University

• Nicole Blau, Ohio University