Psychosocial Determinants to Prenatal Marijuana Use Among a National Sample of Pregnant Females: 2015–2018

• Published date: 01 October 2020
• Author: Rebecca A. Vidourek,Keith A. King,R. Andrew Yockey
• DOI: 10.1177/0022042620921368
• Date: 01 October 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0022042620921368

Journal of Drug Issues

2020, Vol. 50(4) 424 –435

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0022042620921368

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Article

Psychosocial Determinants to

Prenatal Marijuana Use Among

a National Sample of Pregnant

Females: 2015–2018

Keith A. King1, Rebecca A. Vidourek1,

and R. Andrew Yockey1

Abstract

Marijuana use continues to be rampant among pregnant females. This study sought to examine

recent marijuana use among a national sample of pregnant females. Aggregated data from the

2015–2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health were utilized. Weighted analyses revealed

that 5.19% of females used marijuana in the past 30 days. Those at greatest risk for recent

use were African American (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.91); identified as gay/lesbian (aOR:

11.9) or bisexual (aOR: 3.37); used cigarettes (aOR: 2.74), alcohol (aOR: 5.10), and/or illicit

drugs in the past month (aOR: 4.52); and thought marijuana was easy to access (aOR: 7.23).

Women at decreased risk were older, Native Hawaiian, in their second trimester, and thought

marijuana was a great risk. We believe our findings can inform harm-reduction efforts and

inform prevention messages.

Keywords

pregnancy, marijuana, psychosocial

Introduction

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States (Metz & Stickrath, 2015).

During the time period of 2001 to 2013, marijuana use among U.S. adults more than doubled

(Hasin et al., 2015). Among pregnant females, marijuanackel is the most commonly used illegal

substance (McCabe & Arndt, 2012). Despite various adverse health consequences, prenatal use

of marijuana has increased (Calvigioni et al., 2014). Rates have increased during recent years

(Brown et al., 2017), with nearly 4% of pregnant U.S. females using marijuana (Brown et al.,

2017; Ko et al., 2015, 2018). In addition, the number of emergency department visits in the

United States associated with cannabis use increased 43% from 2004 to 2011, further highlight-

ing the need for additional research into the social and psychological mechanisms behind mari-

juana use and initiation (Zhu & Wu, 2016).

Prenatal marijuana use is associated with numerous adverse health effects on the fetus and

infant, including low birth weight (Calvigioni et al., 2014; Gunn et al., 2016; Mark et al., 2016;

1University of Cincinnati, OH, USA

Corresponding Author:

Keith A. King, Center for Prevention Science, University of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 210068, Cincinnati,

OH 45221-0068, USA.

Email: keith.king@uc.edu

921368JODXXX10.1177/0022042620921368Journal of Drug IssuesKing et al.

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