Social capital, the miniaturization of community and cannabis smoking among young adults.
OBJECTIVE
The impact of social participation, trust and the miniaturization of community, i.e. the combination of high social participation and low trust, on cannabis smoking was investigated.


METHODS
The 2000 public health survey in Scania is a cross-sectional study. A total of 13,715 persons aged 18-80 years, of which 3,978 persons aged 18-34 years were included in this study, answered a postal questionnaire, which represents 59% of the random sample. A logistic regression model was used to investigate the association between the social capital variables and ever having experienced cannabis smoking. The multivariate analysis was performed to investigate the importance of possible confounders (age, country of origin and education) on the differences in having experienced cannabis smoking according to social participation, trust and their four combination categories.


RESULTS
Cannabis smoking is not associated with social participation, but positively associated with low trust among both men and women, and the miniaturization of community, i.e. the combination of high social participation and low trust, among men.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that the miniaturization of community, i.e. the combination of high social participation and low levels of generalized trust of other people, may enhance the experience of cannabis smoking.
Lindström
Martin
M
Department of Community Medicine, Malmö University Hospital, Lund University, 205 02 Malmö, Sweden. martin.lindstrom@smi.mas.lu.se
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011593:Psychology, Social; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D035502:Trust