TABLE 1.
Descriptive characteristics of adolescents (12–17) by marijuana use frequency, aNational Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2015–2019.
| Marijuana use frequency | |||
| No use |
Non-weekly use | Weekly-plus use | |
| Sample size (N) | 59,127 | 5,447 | 3,689 |
| % | % | % | |
| Sex | |||
| Female | 48.9 | 53.8*** | 44.3*** |
| Race/ethnicity | |||
| White | 54.1 | 58.0 | 55.4 |
| Black | 14.1 | 12.8 | 15.6 |
| Latino | 24.7 | 25.4 | 25.4 |
| Asian | 6.5 | 3.0*** | 2.4*** |
| NA/AN | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.2*** |
| Education | |||
| Attending any type of school | 95.2 | 97.5*** | 95.6 |
| Federal poverty level (FPL) | |||
| Living in poverty | 21.8 | 19.7* | 23.3* |
| Income up to 2x FPL | 21.8 | 20.1** | 24.5** |
| Income more than to 2x FPL | 56.4 | 60.2*** | 52.2*** |
| Insurance | |||
| Private | 55.9 | 56.1 | 47.7*** |
| Medicaid/CHIP | 37.7 | 37.9 | 44.3*** |
| Medicare | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| Other insurance | 1.5 | 1.2 | 1.7 |
| None | 4.4 | 4.2 | 5.7** |
| Self-rated health | |||
| Excellent | 35.7 | 29.4*** | 22.3*** |
| Very good | 40.1 | 42.3* | 40.5 |
| Good | 20.1 | 23.1*** | 29.1*** |
| Fair/poor | 4.1 | 5.3** | 8.1*** |
| Major depressive episode | |||
| Yes | 12.0 | 27.0*** | 25.0*** |
| Alcohol use disorder | |||
| Yes | 0.6 | 8.3*** | 16.2*** |
| Nicotine dependence | |||
| Yes | 0.3 | 2.1*** | 9.0*** |
| Criminal-legal involvement | |||
| Yes | 2.1 | 6.7*** | 17.7*** |
| Year | |||
| 2015 | 20.0 | 19.1 | 21.4 |
| 2016 | 20.2 | 19.7 | 17.7 |
| 2017 | 20.0 | 20.1 | 19.8 |
| 2018 | 20.0 | 20.3 | 19.3 |
| 2019 | 19.8 | 20.9 | 21.9 |
*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. Comparisons versus no use.
aMarijuana use frequency: no use (0 days of marijuana use), non-weekly use (1 to 51 days of marijuana use), weekly-plus use (52 + days of marijuana use).