title: Longitudinal Predictors of Synthetic Cannabinoid Use in Adolescents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) are a large, heterogeneous group of chemicals that are structurally similar to δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Many SCs are high-efficacy full agonists of the CB1 and/or CB2 cannabinoid receptors, resulting in a potent group of chemicals with a variety of negative health effects, including death. SCs are available to adolescents at convenience stores and smoke shops and on the Internet. However, little is known about the risk factors that contribute to eventual use of SCs in adolescents, and no research has examined the psychiatric, personality, and substance-use risk factors that prospectively predict SC use. On the basis of extant cross-sectional research, we hypothesized that anxiety, depression, impulsivity, and marijuana use would prospectively predict eventual SC use.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected across 2 time points 12 months apart on adolescents attending multiple public high schools in southeast Texas (n= 964).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Path analysis indicated that depressive symptoms, marijuana use, alcohol use, and SC use at baseline were predictive of SC use at 1-year follow-up, whereas anxiety symptoms and impulsivity were not. In addition, SC use at baseline was not predictive of marijuana use at the 1-year follow-up. Females and African Americans were less likely to use SCs than males or those of other ethnicities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SC-use prevention programming should consider depressive symptoms, marijuana use, and alcohol use as risk factors for SC use. Of particular significance, traditional marijuana use was predictive of subsequent SC use, but SC use was not predictive of later marijuana use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland-College Park, College Park, Maryland; aninn@umd.edu.
authors.forename: Andrew L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Ninnemann
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.
authors.forename: Hye
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jeong Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee; and.
authors.forename: Gregory L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Stuart
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UTMB Health, Galveston, Texas.
authors.forename: Jeff R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Temple
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002186:Cannabinoids / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D002189:Marijuana Abuse / Q000209:etiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000209:etiology*
chemical_list: D002186:Cannabinoids