The Role of School Context on Marijuana Use in Chile: A Classroom-Level Analysis

In the Chilean school system, classrooms are stable settings and constitute a closed socialization context. Through multilevel analysis, this article examines the association between classroom composition and students' marijuana consumption. Under the theoretical assumption that social control mechanisms work into social learning peer processes, our results indicate that, as an imposed environment, the classroom may encourage or discourage marijuana use among students. The results suggest that individual marijuana use is strongly associated with school bonding and marijuana tolerance at the classroom level. The strength of these associations depends on the flexibility and stability of the classroom structure.