Wife Influences Husband’s Marijuana Use During First Year of Marriage

While it’s the husband among newlywed couples who has more influence on whether the couple engages in heavy drinking, it’s the wife who appears to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to determining her husband’s marijuana use, according to researchers at the University at Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).

Results showed that in the first year of marriage for 20-somethings, husbands are more likely to start or resume smoking marijuana if their wives smoke marijuana. Husbands also are more likely to stop smoking marijuana if their spouses do not smoke. The reverse is not true in either case; husbands do not seem to influence their wives’ marijuana smoking.

Kenneth E. Leonard, Ph.D., principal investigator on the study, is a senior research scientist at RIA as well as a research professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Since 1990, he has studied couples recruited while applying for marriage licenses at Buffalo City Hall.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

Like this author?
Catch up on other posts by John M. Grohol, PsyD (or subscribe to their feed).

Comments

This post currently has no comments. You can read the comments or leave your own thoughts on our new comments page.

Trackbacks

    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Jul 2005
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.