Date of Award

2026

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology

Specialization

Clinical Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Manshu Yang

Abstract

Objective: Among adolescents who drink alcohol, a group at heightened risk for cannabis co-use and adverse consequences, person-centered approaches to identify distinct use patterns over time remain limited. Using Random Intercept Latent Transition Analysis, we identified subgroups based on past-month alcohol and cannabis use frequency and 12-month profile transitions. We examined whether multilevel socioeconomic status (mSES) and demographic characteristics (age, sex, race/ethnicity) predicted profile classifications and transitions. Method: Participants were 611 adolescents (Mage=16.6; 36.9% female; 49.8% Hispanic/Latino) who endorsed past-month alcohol use, completed a brief intervention, and surveys at baseline, 3-, 6-, and 12-months. The mSES index included family-level indicators (parental education) and area-based social metrics (Child Opportunity Index 3.0). Results: A three-profile solution was the best fitting model. Profile 1 represented equally infrequent alcohol and cannabis use ("Low"; 43.2%), Profile 2 represented cannabis use on half of past-month days and infrequent alcohol use ("Moderate"; 26.5%), and Profile 3 represented near-daily cannabis use and infrequent alcohol use ("High"; 30.3%). More females were initially classified in Low and males in High. The Low profile showed greatest stability across follow-up ("Low Stayers"; 26.0%). Most common transition patterns were from Moderate (9.8%) and High (5.7%) to Low at 3 months and staying Low across follow-up. Effects of mSES, sex, and Hispanic/Latino identity were observed for 6-to-12-month transitions. Conclusion: Cannabis use was heterogeneous among adolescents, with demographic and socioeconomic factors associated with profile transitions. Person-centered longitudinal approaches can improve identification of adolescents sustaining high-frequency use, complementary co-use, or substitution patterns, informing tailored intervention strategies.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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