Perceived Ease of Access and Age Attenuate the Association Between Marijuana Ad Exposure and Marijuana Use in Adolescents

Abstract

This study theorizes and tests moderators (perceived availability of marijuana and age-group) of the association between adolescents’ frequency of marijuana ad exposure and past-year marijuana use. To test this model, I analyzed national survey data from 9,024 American adolescents with hierarchical regression techniques. Results showed that being a male (95% confidence interval [CI] for unstandardized regression coefficient [0.06, 0.16]) and peer pressure (95% CI [0.04, 0.14]) were positively associated with past-year marijuana use, and father education (95% CI [−0.11, −0.06]) was negatively associated with it. Perceived ease of access (95% CI [0.18, 0.22]), ad exposure (95% CI [0.03, 0.14]), and age (95% CI [0.16, 0.27]) were positively associated with past-year marijuana use. Importantly, the associations of perceived ease of access and age with past-year marijuana use were significantly larger than that of ad exposure. Age (95% CI [0.00, 0.15]) and perceived ease of access (95% CI [0.01, 0.07]) independently strengthened the ad exposure to use association. There was a significant three-way interaction (95% CI [0.01, 0.12]) showing that age increases the positive influence of perceived ease of access on the marijuana ad exposure to past-year marijuana use association. An exploratory analysis further revealed that male adolescents are more strongly influenced by perceived ease of access compared to females. Based on the findings, I suggest that approaches for reducing perceived marijuana availability and for implementing age-specific interventions are promising avenues for prevention programs aimed at decreasing marijuana use in adolescents.