Co-occurrence between Marijuana Use, Alcohol Use, and Sexual Behavior in Truant Children
Written by Miriam Bermejo
Edited by Khushi Shah
January 5, 2023
Edited by Khushi Shah
January 5, 2023
It is common for adolescents to intentionally skip school every now and then. Still, there are adolescents who frequently have unexcused absences which can affect their academic performances. Frequent unexcused school absences are known as truancy. In addition to affected academic performance, truant adolescents may also engage in other problematic behaviors such as consuming drugs, and alcohol and engaging in sexual behavior. Engaging with other truant adolescents can further encourage these behaviors as well. A retrospective recall study researched the co-occurrence of marijuana use, alcohol use, and sexual intercourse in adolescents that are truant in schools.
The study included 76 participants (i.e. 30 females and 46 males) between the ages of 13 to 19 years old. They were recruited from a previous study that included adolescents from the community, local high schools, and truancy courts. To be included in the study, participants need to live with a parent/guardian at home, use marijuana at least 3 times in the last 90 days, and engage in school truancy. Once consent from both the guardian and participant was obtained, a 30-40 minute baseline assessment took place.
The Timeline Follow-Back (TLFB) calendar format was used to help participants to recall alcohol use, marijuana use, truancy, and sexual behaviors over a 90-day period. The number of alcoholic drinks, sexual intercourse, including vaginal and anal, and whether it was protected were recorded. Furthermore, engagement in marijuana use and truancy was recorded as yes/no answers.
The results of the study showed that marijuana and alcohol use co-occurs in 82.89% of the participants, marijuana use and sexual intercourse co-occur in 64.47% of the participants, alcohol use and sexual intercourse co-occur in 56.58% of the participants and all three behaviors co-occur in 56.58% of the participants. Additionally, unprotected sexual intercourse occurs among 39.47% of adolescents.
Further statistical methods revealed that the participant's age predicted unprotected sexual intercourse engagement and non-school days tremendously predicted sexual intercourse behavior, unprotected sexual behavior, and marijuana and alcohol use. These types of behavior seem to occur on weekends instead of on school days when participants were truant from school. Although the sample size used for this study was small and there are limitations in collecting information solely from memory, the results emphasize the importance of understanding that problematic behaviors do not occur independently and the role they play in maintaining the problem of concern, like truancy.