Distress about social problems and tobacco and cannabis use outcomes among young adults in Los Angeles County.

OBJECTIVE: To examine associations of concern, worry, and stress about discrimination, shootings/violence, and police brutality and exclusive and dual tobacco and cannabis use among young adults. METHODS: A prospective, racially/ethnically diverse cohort of young adults (n = 1960) living in Los Angeles, California completed a baseline survey in 2020 (age range: 19-23) and a follow-up survey in 2021. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was employed on nine variables assessing levels of concern, worry, and stress about societal discrimination, societal shootings/violence, and community police brutality at baseline. Past 30-day tobacco and cannabis use at follow-up was categorized as current exclusive tobacco, exclusive cannabis, and dual tobacco and cannabis (vs never/former) use based on eleven use variables. Multinomial logistic regressions estimated adjusted associations between each factor score (translated to standard deviation units) with exclusive and dual tobacco and cannabis use. RESULTS: The EFA produced four factor scores representing concern/worry/stress (i.e., distress) about community police brutality (F1), distress about societal shootings/violence (F2), and distress about societal discrimination (F3), as well as generalized stress about police brutality, shootings/violence, and discrimination (F4). F1, F2, and F3 were associated with subsequent exclusive current cannabis use, with F1 having the strongest association (OR: 1.35, 95% CI: 1.18-1.55), while only F1 (OR: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.27-1.78) was associated with dual tobacco and cannabis use. None of the factors were associated with exclusive tobacco use. CONCLUSIONS: Young adult concern, worry, and/or stress about social problems may increase risk of cannabis use with or without concurrent tobacco use 6-12 months later.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health Problems and Tobacco and Cannabis Use Among US Emerging Adults.

INTRODUCTION: Mental health problems in emerging adulthood are linked to tobacco and cannabis use, but whether race and ethnicity modifies these associations is unclear. METHODS: We used data from wave 4 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study (youth n = 6898, young adult n = 10,304) to conduct latent class analysis (LCA) of six past 30-day tobacco and cannabis use indicators (i.e., cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), cigars, blunts, cannabis vaping, other cannabis). We estimated associations between past 30-day internalizing and externalizing (i.e., low (referent), moderate, high) problems and latent classes of tobacco/cannabis use (vs. never/former use) using adjusted multinomial logistic regression. We explored whether associations varied by race and ethnicity through stratification. RESULTS: We identified four exclusive use latent classes and two dual/poly use latent classes for both youth and young adult samples. Race/ethnicity-stratified models identified associations between internalizing/externalizing problems and most use classes for Hispanic and non-Hispanic White youth/young adults, with mixed results for non-Hispanic Black youth/young adults. For example, Hispanic (OR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.09-5.74) and non-Hispanic White (OR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.18-3.06) youth with high internalizing problems had higher odds of ENDS + cannabis vaping. Externalizing problems were not associated with use among non-Hispanic Black youth while internalizing problems were not associated with use among non-Hispanic Black young adults. CONCLUSION: We observed racial/ethnic variation in mental health problems and tobacco and cannabis use. Understanding mental health problem and tobacco product and cannabis use comorbidity may better inform culturally relevant interventions aimed to prevent and reduce use.

Racial/ethnic discrimination and tobacco and cannabis use outcomes among US adults.

INTRODUCTION: Racial/ethnic discrimination (hereafter, discrimination) is associated with use of individual tobacco and cannabis products. However, we know little about how discrimination affects dual/polytobacco and cannabis use and associated use disorders. METHODS: We used cross-sectional data on adults (18+) from the 2012-2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III (n = 35,744). We defined past-year discrimination as a summary scale (range: 0-24) based on six scenarios. We created a mutually exclusive six-category use variable: noncurrent, individual tobacco and noncannabis, individual tobacco and cannabis, individual cannabis and nontobacco, dual/polytobacco and noncannabis, and dual/polytobacco and cannabis based on past 30-day tobacco use of four products (i.e., cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems, other combustibles (cigars, pipe), smokeless tobacco) and cannabis use. We also examined past-year tobacco use disorder (TUD) and cannabis use disorder (CUD) as a four-level variable: no disorders, TUD only, CUD only, and TUD and CUD. We estimated associations between discrimination and each outcome using adjusted multinomial logistic regression and assessed effect modification by stratifying adjusted models by race/ethnicity (i.e., Hispanic, non-Hispanic (NH) White, NH Black, and another race/ethnicity). RESULTS: Experiencing more discrimination was associated with each outcome but was most strongly associated with dual/polytobacco and cannabis use (OR: 1.13, 95 % CI: 1.07-1.19) and joint TUD and CUD (OR: 1.16, 95 % CI: 1.12-1.20). Models stratified by race/ethnicity showed that discrimination was associated with dual/polytobacco and cannabis only among NH White adults, and with joint TUD and CUD only among NH Black and NH White adults. CONCLUSIONS: Discrimination was associated with tobacco and cannabis use outcomes among multiple adult racial/ethnic populations, but associations were more profound for NH White and NH Black adults than adults from other racial/ethnic populations.

12-month and lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts among black adolescents in the National Survey of American Life.

OBJECTIVE: Provide nationally representative data on the prevalence and psychiatric correlates of suicidal ideation and attempts among African American and Caribbean black adolescents in the United States. METHOD: Data on nonfatal suicidal behavior among 1,170 African American and Caribbean black adolescents aged 13 to 17 years are from the National Survey of American Life-Adolescent, a nationally representative household survey of adults with an attached adolescent sample conducted between February 2001 and June 2003. RESULTS: Nationwide black adolescents reported having a lifetime prevalence of 7.5% for suicidal ideation and 2.7% for attempts. The 12-month prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempt was 3.2% and 1.4%, respectively. Among all respondents, 4% of black American adolescents and 7% of female subjects were projected to attempt suicide by age 17 years. African American adolescents were approximately five times more likely than Caribbean black adolescents to attempt suicide. Almost half of the National Survey of American Life-Adolescent respondents who reported a suicide attempt had never met criteria for any of the DSM-IV disorders by the time of their attempts. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians should be trained to screen for suicidal behavior, even among those without DSM-IV disorders, when treating black adolescents, particularly female subjects. In addition, preventive efforts should consider ethnic differences in suicide risk and targeting nonclinical settings.