Marijuana use among minority youths living in public housing developments

Youths residing in public housing developments appear to be at markedly hei ghtened risk for drug use because of their constant exposure to violence, p overty, and drug-related activity. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a model of marijuana etiology with adolescents (N = 624) residing in public housing. African-American and Hispanic seventh graders completed questionnaires about their marijuana use, social influences to smoke marij uana, and sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics. Results indica ted that social influences, such as friends' marijuana use and perceived ea se of availability of marijuana, significantly predicted both occasional an d future use of marijuana. Individual characteristics such as antimarijuana attitudes and drug refusal skills also predicted marijuana use. The findin gs imply that effective prevention approaches that target urban youths resi ding in public housing developments should provide them with an awareness o f social influences to use marijuana, correct misperceptions about the prev alence of marijuana smoking, and train adolescents in relevant psychosocial skills.