Parents who use cannabis were more likely to report positive parenting behaviors, according to the results of a federally funded study.
The study by researchers at the University of Tennessee, Ohio State University, and San Jose State University found that there is a nuanced relationship between cannabis and parenting, Marijuana Moment reported last week. The researchers found that parents generally do not use cannabis while their children are present. However, parents who use cannabis were significantly more likely to report positive parenting behaviors during times that they are using cannabis.
Positive parenting was defined as “showing a child love, warmth, and care while providing and being sensitive to their needs,” according to the study funded by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant. A report on the research was published last month by the peer-reviewed journal Parenting: Science and Practice.
Researchers recruited 77 parents at Sacramento-area cannabis retailers to participate in the study. The average age of participants was 32 years old and 72% were mothers. Just over half (50.6%) were either married or “living in a marriage-like relationship,” while the remaining subjects were either single, divorced, or widowed.
The participants completed a baseline survey and were then asked to complete five short surveys per day for two weeks before completing a final survey on day 15. Surveys included “a battery of questions,” the study says, “pertaining to parenting behaviors, stress, cannabis use, alcohol use, and context.” Participants received financial incentives of up to $190 for completing the surveys.
An analysis of the survey responses revealed that many parents reported using cannabis while their children were in the same general location. However, almost all avoided using cannabis while their children were physically in their presence.
“Parents reported that children were not present in 92.3% of the episodes when they reported using cannabis,” the report says. “In other words, parents report being with their child in the 3–4 hour time frame since they took their last survey, but that their child is not present when using cannabis.”
The researchers determined that parents had “significantly higher odds of reporting positive parenting behaviors in the same time frame when they report using cannabis.” The researchers also found that there was “no relationship between a parent’s reports of using cannabis and aggressive discipline during the same [ecological momentary assessment] period,” referring to punishments that cause physical pain (such as spanking), withhold affection, or involve “calling a child offensive names (e.g., lazy).”
Study Finds Link Between Strong Relationships and Positive Parenting
The researchers also determined that the presence of others while using cannabis generally did not significantly affect parenting behavior. However, parents who had a spouse, partner, or friends with them while using cannabis “had higher odds of reporting positive parenting in the next time period.”
“Being with these individuals might encourage positive parenting in order to have their parenting judged favorably or to minimize appearances of the harmful effects of cannabis use on parenting,” the authors wrote as a possible explanation for the increase in positive parenting. “With partners, in particular, parents using cannabis may have an arrangement that the partner is the primary caregiver or disciplinarian…when cannabis is being consumed. This could alleviate some of the pressure of parenting, enabling the parent to focus on positive behaviors.”
The study also found that parents who used cannabis with people they had a weak relationship with “had significantly higher odds of using aggressive discipline.”
“In our exploratory analyses, we found that who was present when parents used cannabis was important,” the researchers wrote, noting that “Using cannabis with an individual for whom the parent may only have weak social connections to (compared to using alone) is the only social context in which a parent is more likely to use aggressive discipline.”
“Parents in this situation may choose to use aggressive discipline if they worry that their child(ren)’s behavior may be viewed negatively by the others in the room,” they added.
The researchers said that the results of the study “reveal a complicated relationship between cannabis use and parenting among a sample of cannabis users.” Nevertheless, the results offer “some information on ways parents can engage in harm reduction to support positive parenting.”
The authors noted some limitations of the research including the study’s small sample size and urged caution in interpreting its findings.
“Much more needs to be understood around the social mechanisms that result in these findings,” they wrote, “to better understand how the social context of cannabis use may promote positive parenting.”
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