The “Real” Number of Washington State Adolescents Using Marijuana, and Why: A Misclassification Analysis

AbstractBackground: Although causality is difficult to establish, the regular use of marijuana has been associated with many adverse physiological and sociological consequences. There is considerable concern regarding marijuana use among adolescents, as the likelihood of adverse consequences increases significantly for this age group. The most comprehensive data for identifying risk factors for adolescent marijuana use is typically self-report, which may be over- or under-reported for a variety of reasons, including stigmatization, peer-pressure, or fear of being discovered. Objectives: To identify the prevalence of adolescent marijuana use in Washington State, and the associated risk and protective factors, while controlling for and estimating the extent of misreporting, and its determinants. Method: Data came from the 2014 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey. We accounted for missingness using chained multivariate imputation equations, resulting in 33,320 complete observations. Our model was estimated...