Journal article
Role Strain Among Parents Who are Medical Cannabis Patients in Pennsylvania
Journal of psychoactive drugs, pp 1-9
19 Aug 2025
PMID: 40830072
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
As medical cannabis legalization expands in the United States, more parents and people of child-bearing age are becoming medical cannabis patients (MCP). This analysis uses the theory of role strain to explore how parents navigate being an MCP in Pennsylvania. Twenty four semi-structured qualitative interviews with parents from an ongoing registry study of MCP were analyzed using an a priori codebook and complemented by codes to capture emergent themes. Additionally, memowriting was utilized to refine the analysis and validate findings. Parents described their cannabis use as supportive of their parental role through the reduction of physical and psychological symptoms, improvements to mood, and increased patience with children. However, participants also reported that fear of legal consequences and stigma around their medical cannabis use put strain on their role as parents. The MCP role both supports and strains the parental role depending on context and situation. Results indicate a need for more research among parents who are MCP, especially along lines of identity and factors such as race, and ethnicity.
Metrics
2 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Role Strain Among Parents Who are Medical Cannabis Patients in Pennsylvania
- Creators
- Maddy Finkelstein - Drexel UniversityElizabeth Salerno Valdez - Drexel UniversityOlivia Cordingley - Drexel UniversitySamantha Pagán - Drexel UniversityJanna Ataiants - Drexel UniversityStephen E Lankenau - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Journal of psychoactive drugs, pp 1-9
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- Number of pages
- 9
- Grant note
- Agronomed BiologicsDrexel University Medical Cannabis Research Center team
The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of the Drexel University Medical Cannabis Research Center team and the Pennsylvania Medical Cannabis Registry Study's Scientific and Community Advisory Boards. Additionally, I thank the following individuals for their help in writing and revising the manuscript: Dr. Allison Groves and Katherine Ardeleanu, MS, LGPC.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Dana and David Dornsife School of Public Health; Community Health and Prevention
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001553521000001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105013774566
- Other Identifier
- 991022082838904721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Psychology, Clinical
- Substance Abuse