Does social context matter? An ecological momentary assessment study of marijuana use among college students

Introduction: Past research has shown that marijuana use occurs commonly in social situations for young adults, though few studies have examined the association between immediate social context and marijuana use patterns and associated problems. The current study examined the impact of demographics, marijuana use and problem use, alcohol use, craving, and social context on the likelihood of using marijuana with others via ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Methods: College-student marijuana users (N = 56) were recruited and completed a baseline assessment and training on the two-week signal-contingent EMA protocol. Participants were sent text messages three times per day randomly for two weeks. Results: Of the 1131 EMA instances during which participants reported using marijuana, 862 (76.22%) were labeled as being with others. Forty-five participants (80.36%) reported marijuana use with others present during at least half of the times they used marijuana. Findings from a multilevel logistic regression model showed a significant positive association between the probability of using with others and minutes spent using marijuana (b = 0.047, p < 0.001), social facilitation (b = 0.138, p < 0.001), and DSM-IV diagnosis (dependence versus no diagnosis, b = 1.350, p = 0.047). Conclusions: Cannabis dependence, more time using marijuana in the moment, and using for social facilitation purposes were positively associated with using marijuana in the context of being with others. Daily users had more variability in terms of the social context of their use. This study illustrates the complex relationship between social context and marijuana use.