Lower Grades, More Absences for High Schoolers who Use Both Tobacco and Cannabis

A research team including Prof. Kevin Gee has found that high school students who use both tobacco and cannabis products miss more school and have lower grades compared to students who don’t use either product or who use the products individually but don’t combine them.

“While certain school factors—like peer pressure—can contribute to teen tobacco and cannabis use, schools also play a critical role in prevention, especially in partnership with families,” said Gee. “One important tool available to California’s schools is the Tobacco Use Prevention Education program that, when strategically invested in intervention and cessation activities, has shown promise in reducing tobacco use among teens.” 

Gee and co-researchers Melanie Dove, an assistant adjunct professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences and first author of the paper, and Elisa Tong, a physician at UC Davis Health and director of the Tobacco Cessation Policy Research Center, analyzed data from the 2021–22 California Healthy Kids Survey. This anonymous, confidential survey was administered by the California Department of Education and asks questions about wellness, resiliency, school climate and safety. The study reviewed responses from 287,653 high school students in ninth and 11th grade.

Read about “Co-Use of Tobacco Products and Cannabis Is Associated with Absenteeism and Lower Grades in California High School Students.”