@article{ref1,
title="Income inequality and daily use of cannabis, cigarettes, and e-cigarettes among Canadian secondary school students: results from COMPASS 2018-19",
journal="International journal on drug policy",
year="2023",
author="Benny, Claire and Steele, Brian J. and Patte, Karen A. and Leatherdale, Scott T. and Pabayo, Roman",
volume="115",
number="",
pages="e104014-e104014",
abstract="INTRODUCTION: Cannabis, cigarette, and e-cigarette use among Canadian adolescents is a major public health concern. Income inequality has been associated with adverse mental health among youth and may contribute to the risk of frequent cannabis, cigarette, and e-cigarette use. We tested the association between income inequality and the risk of daily cannabis, cigarette, and e-cigarette use among Canadian secondary school students. <br><br>METHODS: We used individual-level survey data from Year 6 (2018/19) of Cannabis, Obesity, Mental health, Physical activity, Alcohol use, Smoking, and Sedentary Behavior (COMPASS) and area-level data from the 2016 Canadian Census. Three-level logistic models were used to assess the relationship between income inequality and adolescent daily and current cannabis use, cigarette smoking, and e-cigarette use. <br><br>RESULTS: The analytic sample included 74,501 students aged 12-19. Students were most likely to report being male (50.4%), white (69.1%), and having weekly spending money over $100 (23.5%). We found that a standard deviation unit increase in Gini coefficient was significantly associated with increased likelihood of daily cannabis use (OR=1.25, 95% CI = 1.01-1.54) when adjusting for relevant covariates. We found no significant relationship between income inequality and daily smoking. While Gini was not significantly associated with daily e-cigarette use, we observed a significant interaction between Gini and gender (OR=0.87, 95% CI= 0.80-0.94), indicating that increased income inequality was associated with higher risk of reporting daily e-cigarette use among females only. <br><br>DISCUSSION: An association between income inequality and the likelihood of reporting daily cannabis use across all students and daily e-cigarette use in females were observed. Schools in higher income inequality areas may benefit from targeted prevention and harm reduction programs. <br><br>RESULTS emphasize the need for upstream discussion on policies that can mitigate the potential effects income inequality.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0955-3959",
doi="10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104014",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104014"
}