Introduction: Prevalence of alcohol and marijuana use is highest in young adulthood and an increasing number of young adults report simultaneous alcohol and marijuana (SAM) use, which is consistently linked with numerous negative consequences. To better understand reasons for engaging in SAM use and to refine measurement of subjective effects of SAM use, this study aimed to identify (1) how young adults describe subjective experiences during a SAM use occasion and (2) how language describing subjective effects changes as a function of level of alcohol and marijuana use. Methods: Using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk), 323 participants (53.6% women, 68.4% White, M age = 23.0 years) who reported past-month heavy episodic drinking and past-month SAM use were asked to list words to describe how they feel when using only alcohol, only marijuana, and various combinations of alcohol and marijuana. Results: SAM use language varied as a function of age and substance use behavior but was not associated with sex or race. Large differences in the terms used to describe subjective effects were observed when comparing different combinations of alcohol and marijuana use; most notably the term "cross-faded" appeared primarily when engaging at the heaviest combinations of alcohol and marijuana. Conclusion: Young adults have a wide range of vocabulary for describing subjective effects of SAM use, and subjective effects vary as a function of the level of each substance used. Future research should consider integrating such contemporary language when measuring subjective effects of SAM use.

Introduction: Adolescents may experience and engage in many risky consequences and behaviors after drinking. It is important to consider the consequences of substance use as these consequences can be helpful in developing feasible and effective school-based prevention programs.Methods: This paper capitalizes on the use of a nationally representative dataset to consider the consequence of truancy as a result of drinking as a mediator on the relationship between alcohol use and academic achievement. Results: By examining the relative impact of malleable factors such as truancy, this paper finds a full mediation for students who attend school but do not attend classes.Conclusion: This result implies that much of the variance in the negative relationship between current alcohol use and academic performance is explained by students cutting class as a result of their drinking. This factor is discussed in terms of how schools can reduce alcohol use risk consequences.