Materialist and post-materialist values and cannabis smoking among young adults: A population-based study in southern Sweden

Objectives The association between materialist, mixed and post-materialist values, and the experience of cannabis smoking among young adults was investigated. Methods The 2004 public health survey in Skåne, southern Sweden, is a cross-sectional study with a 59% response rate. The 6787 persons aged 18–34 years included in this study answered a postal questionnaire. A logistic regression model was used to investigate the association between materialist, mixed and post-materialist values and ever having experienced cannabis smoking. The multivariate analysis was performed to investigate the importance of possible confounders (age and education) on the differences in ever having experienced cannabis smoking according to materialist, mixed and post-materialist values. Results 28% of the men and 17% of the women had ever experienced cannabis smoking. The experience of cannabis smoking was significantly and positively associated with post-materialist values among both men and women. The odds ratios were 2.4 (1.8–3.1) for men with post-materialist values compared to men with materialist values, and 3.1 (2.4–4.0) for women with post-materialist values compared to women with materialist values. Conclusions This study suggests that post-materialist values are positively associated with the risk of ever smoking cannabis. Because this is a cross-sectional study, the direction of causality remains to be investigated.