Young Adults Allow Marijuana Smoke in Their Homes More Than Cigarette Smoke | Research

The takeaway

Among college students, 17% allowed marijuana smoking in their homes versus 14.5% for cigarettes, with marijuana permissiveness driven by personal use and positive perceptions rather than peer or parental smoking.

Read this if you or your roommates smoke marijuana indoors and are curious about secondhand exposure patterns.

17% allowed marijuana smoke in homes vs. 14.5% for cigarettes

What the researchers found

Researchers surveyed 2,002 students at two southeastern U.S. universities about allowing smoking in personal spaces. More students permitted marijuana (17%) than cigarettes (14.5%) in their homes, though more allowed cigarettes in cars (35.9%) than marijuana (27.3%).

The factors predicting each policy differed. Allowing cigarettes in the home was linked to younger age, minority status, living off campus, personal marijuana use, and parental tobacco use. Allowing marijuana in the home was linked to older age, not having children, living off campus, positive marijuana perceptions, and personal, parental, and friend marijuana use.

Personal marijuana use predicted allowing cigarettes in the home, and personal cigarette use predicted allowing marijuana in cars, showing how the two substances' secondhand smoke policies are interlinked.

Why it matters

Secondhand marijuana smoke exposure in personal settings is an understudied health concern. This study revealed that young adults are more permissive of marijuana than cigarette smoke in their homes, potentially exposing cohabitants to harmful combustion products.

The numbers in context

2,002 respondents; 14.5% allowed cigarettes in home; 17.0% allowed marijuana in home; 35.9% allowed cigarettes in cars; 27.3% allowed marijuana in cars

How the study worked

Cross-sectional online survey of 2,002 respondents at two southeastern U.S. universities in 2013. Multivariate logistic regression identified correlates of allowing cigarette versus marijuana smoking in homes and cars.

What this study cannot tell us

Southeastern U.S. university sample may not generalize. Self-reported policies may not reflect actual behavior. Cross-sectional design. Did not measure actual secondhand exposure levels.

How to read the evidence

Large university sample with multivariate analysis, but limited to two schools in the southeastern U.S. and cross-sectional design.

When this study was published

Published in 2015 using 2013 data. Marijuana legalization and changing norms have likely shifted these patterns.

The bigger picture

Decades of public health messaging have reduced tolerance for cigarette smoke in personal settings, but marijuana smoke has not received the same attention. As marijuana use becomes more accepted, secondhand exposure norms need to catch up with tobacco norms.

Questions still open

How does secondhand marijuana smoke exposure in homes compare to cigarette smoke in health effects? Would public health campaigns about marijuana secondhand smoke change permissiveness? Have these patterns changed since marijuana legalization?

Common questions

Is secondhand marijuana smoke harmful?

Marijuana smoke contains many of the same toxins as tobacco smoke. This study found young adults are more permissive of marijuana smoke in homes than cigarette smoke, suggesting secondhand exposure may be an underappreciated concern.

Why do more people allow marijuana than cigarettes indoors?

The study did not answer this directly, but the correlates suggest positive perceptions of marijuana and social norms around marijuana use (personal, friend, and parental use) drive permissiveness, whereas cigarette smoke has been more effectively stigmatized by public health campaigns.

Read the original research

Allowing cigarette or marijuana smoking in the home and car: prevalence and correlates in a young adult sample.

Health education research, 30(1), 179-91

View on PubMed ↗Publisher’s paper ↗

Citation

Padilla, Mabel; Berg, Carla J; Schauer, Gillian L; Lang, Delia L; Kegler, Michelle C. (2015). Allowing cigarette or marijuana smoking in the home and car: prevalence and correlates in a young adult sample.. Health education research, 30(1), 179-91. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyu051