Adolescent Health Data: Feelings of Depression and Marijuana Use

Abstract

Adolescent Health Data: Feelings of Depression and Marijuana Use Objective The purpose of this study is to examine an association between feelings of depression and marijuana use amongst high school students in the United States. Methods Data were analyzed based on the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBS), 2017. SAS 9.4 was used to apply survey weighting procedures to the bivariate and logistic regression models as well as to calculate univariate and bivariate descriptive statistics, and crude and adjusted odds ratios for the outcome, exposure, and covariates (n=13,916). Outcome was measured as “During the past 12 months, did you ever feel so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that you stopped doing some usual activities” and operationalized by yes/no. Exposure was measured by ““during your life, how many times have you used marijuana” and operationalized as no if zero and yes if any other number. Results Students who had feelings of depression were more likely to have ever used marijuana (49.1%) than those who did not have feelings of depression (29.4%). Also, females were more likely to have experienced feelings of depression when compared to males, 67.2% and 32.8% respectively. High school students who ever tried marijuana had 2.46(95% CI:2.15-2.82) times the odds of feeling depressed compared to those who had never tried marijuana. Female students had 2.73(95% CI:2.37-3.13) times the odds of feeling depressed compared to male students. Black or African American, 0.83(95% CI:0.69-0.99), and 15 year old, 0.78(95% CI:0.64-0.96), students had less odds than whites and those 17 years and older respectively. Conclusions This study revealed that students who had feelings of depression were more likely to have ever used marijuana compared to students that did not. Race and age were protective factors for depression. Female students had almost three times the odds of feeling depressed than males. Results can inform future research surrounding attitudes of marijuana use among high school students with feelings of depression in order to prevent or delay marijuana use in this population.