The acute effects of cannabis use on parenting

About This Grant

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Cannabis use among parents has increased rapidly in the past 10 years. In 2023, 7.8% of parents in the U.S. used cannabis on the majority of days, 4.9% used cannabis every day, and 5.7% met criteria for Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD). Cannabis use has acute effects on neurocognition, mood, and behavior that would plausibly affect the parenting of young children. However, research on substance use and parenting has focused largely use of alcohol and hard drugs, not cannabis. This project will use an ecological, within-person design to study the acute effects of cannabis on parenting. We will recruit 190 parents who routinely use cannabis (≥4 days per week) and have a child ages 3-6 years old. We focus on parents of young children because parenting a younger child is more demanding, and thus more likely to be affected by acute use. First, the parent will complete a baseline visit to gather data about how they approach cannabis use around their child and characterize the sample. Second, the parent will complete a 21-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol designed to repeatedly measure parenting behavior when using vs. not using cannabis (5 surveys per day). Within the 21-day EMA period, the parent will also complete a videotaped, in-home, ecologically valid parent-child interaction task on 2 different days, once shortly after using cannabis and once when not having used. Masked coders will use a validated scoring system to measure behavioral and emotional aspects of parenting linked to healthy child adjustment. Ratings of subjective intoxication and measures of products’ putative THC/CBD content will be collected throughout the study to characterize dose-response. Aim 1: Describe how parents who routinely use cannabis approach cannabis use with children Aim 2: Determine the acute effects of cannabis use on parenting behavior Aim 3: Test potential moderators of the acute effects of cannabis use on parenting The team has expertise in cannabis, parenting, & child mental health and experience leading both intensive EMA studies of cannabis use and in-home assessments of parent-child interactions. This project will yield rigorous evidence on the acute effects of cannabis use on parenting. This evidence will be useful for parents, clinicians, and the public health conversation around cannabis.