Citation

de Looze M, Janssen I, Elgar FJ, Craig W, Pickett W. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2014; 146: 68-74.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Queen's University, 221 Craine, Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6; Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Angada 3, Kingston General Hospital, 76 Stuart Street, Kingston, ON Canada K7L 2V7. Electronic address: will.pickett@queensu.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.11.005

PMID

25466799

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although neighbourhood factors have been proposed as determinants of adolescent behaviour, few studies document their relative etiological importance. We investigated the relationship between neighbourhood crime and cannabis use in a nationally representative sample of Canadian adolescents.

METHODS: Data from the 2009/10 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey (n=9134 14- and 15-year-olds) were combined with area-level data on crime and socioeconomic status of the neighbourhood surrounding the schools (n=218).

RESULTS: Multilevel logistic regression analyses showed that after individual and contextual differences were held constant, neighbourhood crime related to cannabis use (OR 1.29, CI 1.12-1.47 per 1.0 SD increase in crime). This association was not moderated by parental support nor having cannabis-using friends. The amount of explained variance at the neighbourhood level was 19%.

CONCLUSIONS: Neighbourhood crime is an important factor to consider when designing interventions aimed at reducing adolescent cannabis use. Interventional research should examine the effectiveness of community-based interventions that target adolescents through parents and peers.

Language: en