The Roles of Family, Peer, School, and Attitudinal Factors in Cannabis Use Across Immigrant Generations of Youth

The objective of this study was to examine the associations of family, school, peer, and attitudinal factors with cannabis use among three immigrant generations of youth. The sample consisted of 3,134 students from the 2009 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, a provincewide survey of 7th- to 12th-grade students. Results indicate that the odds of using cannabis were lower among first-generation immigrant youth than among second as well as third and later generations. The immigrant generations were more similar than different in the significance of family, school, peers, and attitudinal factors on cannabis use. Parental education, however, was found to differ in its effect on cannabis use across generations. Findings suggest that factors that influence cannabis use may be similar across immigrant generations and that further research is needed on the effects of parental education and the mechanisms through which protection and risk to immigrant generations occur.