Residential greenness and substance use among youth and young adults: Associations with alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use.

INTRODUCTION: Research has identified positive associations between green space and physical and mental health outcomes. Substance use outcomes, however, have received considerably less attention. This study investigates the association between residential greenness and substance use through an analysis of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use among youth and young adults. METHODS: This study utilized three waves (2016-2018) of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), as well as residential greenness data from the Canadian Urban Environmental Health Consortium (CANUE). Multinomial logistic regression was used to explore variation in the pattern of substance use between greenness quartiles. The sample included 14,070 youth and young adults (15-25 years). RESULTS: Residential greenness was not associated with alcohol use in general but was associated with lower odds of frequent binge drinking. Residential greenness was also associated with lower odds of tobacco use and greater odds of marijuana use. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that residential greenness is associated with patterns of substance use. The strength and direction of association, however, is highly contingent upon the substance under investigation. Living in greener neighborhoods may confer certain benefits to substance use and abuse among youth and young adults.

Nicotine and Nicotine-Free Vaping Behavior among a Sample of Canadian High School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Youth vaping is a public health concern in Canada. Researchers have explored factors associated with vape use, but rarely differentiated between types of use. This study estimates the prevalence and correlations among past-month nicotine vaping, nicotine-free vaping, and dual-use vaping (nicotine and nicotine-free) in grades 9-12 high school students. Data came from the 2019 Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CSTADS). The total sample consisted of 38,229 students. We used multinomial regression to assess for the correlations among different categories of vape use. Approximately 12% of the students reported past-month vape use exclusively with nicotine, 2.8% reported exclusively nicotine-free vape use, and 14% reported both nicotine vaping and nicotine-free vaping. Substance use (smoking, alcohol, cannabis) and being male were associated with membership in every category of vape use. Age was associated with vape use, but in different directions. Grade 10 and 11 students were more likely than grade 9 students to vape exclusively with nicotine (aOR 1.36; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.77 and aOR 1.46; 95% CI: 1.09, 1.97), while grade 9 students were more likely than grade 11 and 12 students to vape with both nicotine and nicotine-free vapes (aOR 0.82; 95% CI: 0.67, 0.99 and aOR 0.49; 95% CI: 0.37, 0.64). The prevalence of nicotine and nicotine-free vaping is high, with many students reporting the use of both.