Xitlally Llamas Estanquero
Research Mentor: Sunghyun Hong
Mentor Department: Not Available, Social Work
Author(s): Xitlally Llamas Estanquero, Sunghyun Hong
Session: Session 4 (1:00 PM – 1:50 PM)
Presentation Type: Poster 46
Abstract
With the recent state-by-state legalization of cannabis for adults in the United States, and the potential spillover effects of perceived normalization, cannabis use among adolescents and young adults has increased substantially. Although the literature continues to expand, research examining why adolescents and young adults use cannabis, particularly how developmental precursors are situated within contemporary sociopolitical contexts remains an area that warrants further examination. This project conducts a scoping literature review of peer-reviewed articles published after 2005, marking the early stages of policy shifts and increased public discourse surrounding cannabis legalization in the United States. The review focuses on cannabis use in adolescence and young adulthood, with particular attention to predictors emerging earlier in development, including childhood. It also attends to variation in socioeconomic position and examines how early-life psychosocial, behavioral, and contextual factors are associated with cannabis use trajectories during adolescence. In addition, it considers longitudinal patterns of cannabis use into adulthood, particularly trajectories initiated during adolescence. This scoping review aims to clarify key developmental predictors and identify conceptual, methodological, and empirical gaps in the existing literature. By centering a life-course perspective, it contributes to a more developmentally informed and contextually grounded approach to cannabis research, with implications for future scholarship and intervention design.
