Objectives:Alcohol and cannabis remain the substances most widely used by adolescents. Better understanding of the dynamic relationship between trajectories of substance use in relation to neuropsychological functioning is needed. The aim of this study was to examine the different impacts of within- and between-person changes in alcohol and cannabis use on neuropsychological functioning over multiple time points.Methods:Hierarchical linear modeling examined the effects of alcohol and cannabis use on neuropsychological functioning over the course of 14 years in a sample of 175 adolescents (aged 12–15 years at baseline).Results:Time-specific fluctuations in alcohol use (within-person effect) predicted worse performance across time on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence Block Design subtest (B = −.05, SE = .02, p = .01). Greater mean levels of percent days of cannabis use across time (between-person effect) were associated with an increased contrast score between Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System Color Word Inhibition and Color Naming conditions (B = .52, SE = .14, p < .0001) and poorer performance over time on Block Design (B = −.08, SE = .04, p = .03). Neither alcohol and/nor cannabis use over time was associated with performance in the verbal memory and processing speed domains.Conclusions:Greater cumulative cannabis use over adolescence may be linked to poorer inhibitory control and visuospatial functioning performance, whereas more proximal increases in alcohol consumption during adolescence may drive alcohol-related performance decrements in visuospatial functioning. Results from this prospective study add to the growing body of literature on the impact of alcohol and cannabis use on cognition from adolescent to young adulthood.

Physical health in childhood is crucial for neurobiological as well as overall development, and can shape long-term outcomes into adulthood. The landmark, longitudinal Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development StudySM (ABCD study®), was designed to investigate brain development and health in almost 12,000 youth who were recruited when they were 9–10 years old and will be followed through adolescence and early adulthood. The overall goal of this paper is to provide descriptive analyses of physical health measures in the ABCD study at baseline, including but not limited to sleep, physical activity and sports involvement, and body mass index. Further this summary will describe how physical health measures collected from the ABCD cohort compare with current normative data and clinical guidelines. We propose this data set has the potential to facilitate clinical recommendations and inform national standards of physical health in this age group. This manuscript will also provide important information for ABCD users and help guide analyses investigating physical health including new avenues for health disparity research as it pertains to adolescent and young adult development.

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Alcohol and cannabis use are highly prevalent among adolescents and associated with negative consequences. Understanding motivations behind substance use in youth is important for informing prevention and intervention efforts. The present study aims to examine negative reinforcement principles of substance use among adolescent cannabis and alcohol users by pairing a cue reactivity paradigm with an aversive interoceptive stimulus. Adolescents (ages 15-17), classified as controls (CTL; n = 18), cannabis and/or alcohol experimenters (CAN+ALC-EXP; n = 16), or individuals meeting clinical criteria for cannabis and/or alcohol use disorder (CAN+ALC-SUD; n = 13) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during which they experienced an aversive interoceptive probe delivered via breathing load while simultaneously performing a cue reactivity paradigm. Participants also provided self-report ratings of how their substance use is positively or negatively reinforced. While experiencing the breathing load, CAN+ALC-SUD exhibited greater (p < 0.05) deactivation in the right amygdala, the left inferior frontal gyrus, and the left parahippocampal gyrus than CAN+ALC-EXP and CTL, who did not differ. Across all substance users, activation during the breathing load within the left parahippocampal gyrus negatively correlated with cannabis and alcohol lifetime use episodes and the left inferior frontal gyrus activity negatively correlated with lifetime alcohol use episodes. CAN+ALC-SUD reported experiencing more positive and negative reinforcement of using their substance of choice than CAN+ALC-EXP; both user groups reported higher levels of positive than negative reinforcement. Adolescents with a cannabis/alcohol use disorder demonstrate an altered response to interoceptive perturbations. However, adolescent cannabis/alcohol use does not appear to be driven by negative reinforcement, as viewing substance images did not dampen this response. Based on self-report data, the experience of positive reinforcement may be stronger for adolescents. Future studies should examine whether positive reinforcement contributes to adolescent substance use.

Purpose of Review-Adolescent cannabis use represents a significant public health concern. Cannabis experimentation typically begins in adolescence and increases the odds of meeting criteria for cannabis use disorder. Cannabis use disorder is associated with numerous short-and long-term adverse consequences for adolescents, highlighting the critical need for efficacious behavioral treatments. This brief review aims to synthesize the state of the behavioral treatment literature on adolescents with cannabis use disorder and to discuss new pathways to leverage neuroscience to inform novel targets for behavioral intervention. Recent Findings-To date, effective treatment options for adolescent cannabis use disorder that have been tested in randomized controlled trials include cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational enhancement therapy, and multidimensional family therapy. However, established behavioral treatment approaches focus on higher-order cognitive control and have only been modestly effective. Summary-There is a need to develop new pathways that translate neuroscience findings into novel targets for behavioral interventions.