%0 Journal Article
%J Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research
%D 2026
%T Young adults’ cannabis environments and their cannabis use and misuse
%A Sabrina Oesterle, Daniel McNeish, Katarina Guttmannova, Martie L. Skinner, Margaret R. Kuklinski, & J. David Hawkins
%X <strong><em>Objective</em></strong>: Considering the interplay between normative and legal aspects of young adults’ cannabis environments may help improve cannabis use and misuse prevention and harm reduction among young people.<strong><em>Method</em></strong>: Data came from 3,818 U.S. young adults (average age 23 years, 𝑆𝐷=.49) living in diverse legal cannabis contexts (54.8% illegal, 17.7% medical legal, 27.8% nonmedical legal). Cannabis norms were measured by young adults’ perceptions of cannabis use and approval by parents, peers, spouse/partner, and community members. Logistic regressions estimated the separate, additive, and interactive associations of cannabis norms and legal permissiveness with young adults’ past-year cannabis use and misuse, adjusting for past cannabis use and norms and other covariates.<strong><em>Results</em></strong><strong>:</strong> Legal and normative permissiveness were highly correlated. However, only norms were independently associated with past-year cannabis use (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=6.50, CI=[1.62,5.05]), frequent past-month cannabis use (AOR=5.58, CI=[3.94,7.92]), and cannabis use disorder (AOR=2.48, CI=[2.10,2.94]) when examined together. The association between cannabis norms and use did not differ by legal permissiveness.<strong><em>Conclusions</em></strong>: Changing cannabis norms in young adults’ social environments beyond peers could be an impactful prevention and intervention strategy.
%B Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research
%V 17
%P 355-377
%8 June
%G eng
%N 2
%R 10.1086/729613