title: Race differences in longitudinal associations between adolescent personal and peer marijuana use and adulthood sexually transmitted infection risk.
abstract: To assess whether adolescent marijuana exposure represents a modifiable predictor of risk of sexually transmitted infections as adults, we used nationally representative, longitudinal data from Waves I (1994-1995, adolescence) and III (2001-2002, adulthood) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 10,738) to examine racial and gender differences in associations between adolescent marijuana use, current use, and peer use and adulthood multiple partnerships, self-reported sexually transmitted infections, and biologically confirmed sexually transmitted infections. The risk of sexually transmitted infections as adults was predicted by adolescent marijuana use in all groups except Black women and by peer marijuana use among Black men. Adolescents who use or have friends who use marijuana constitute priority populations for sexually transmitted infection prevention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Fertility and Family Science, Child Trends, Washington, DC 20008, USA. aberger@childtrends.org
authors.forename: Amanda T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Maria R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Jordana L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Hemberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D010379:Peer Group; D012307:Risk Factors; D012747:Sexual Partners; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult; D001741:Black or African American