Our results suggest that early drug use is associated with and predicts later psychiatric disorders. Preventive implications stem from the importance of studying a range of psychiatric disorders in the context of substance use assessed over a wide age range.

This study builds on the work of others who have examined the impact of marijuana use on psychosocial functioning by incorporating several desirable features gleaned from previous research '-5: (1) the longitudinal design necessary for time ordering of variables and more confident predictions; (2) a 5-year interval enabling examination of longterm rather than short-term and more transitory associations; (3) a time interval within important developmental periods, early and late adolescence; (4) a focus on marijuana's associations with problem behaviors and attitudes, drug problems, and sibling and peer behavior; (5) a difficult-to-access inner-city African American and Puerto Rican sample; and (6) controls on early problems in examinations of the relationship of early marijuana use with later problems.In the review to follow we focus on studies in which marijuana use is the only independent variable.

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Patterns of continuity and change in personality attributes from childhood to adolescence and their relation to the adolescents' stage of drug use are reported in this article. Subjects were 356 youngsters whose mothers were interviewed when the child was 5–10 years of age (T1) and again when the child was an adolescent (T2). The adolescents were also interviewed at T2. The results indicated that childhood personality attributes were related to adolescent personality attributes, which in turn were related to adolescents' stage of drug use. Across-time personality correlations suggested that substantial continuity exists in personality traits. However, there was also some evidence for the malleability of these traits. The findings further indicated that the positive effects of protective (i.e., nondrug-conducive) personality traits in the child could be weakened by the presence of risk factors during adolescence leading to higher T2 drug stage. In addition, the negative impact of childhood risk personality traits could be ameliorated by protective personality traits during adolescence resulting in lower drug stage.

The purpose of this study was to identify distinct trajectories of cigarette smoking from ages 14 to 32, and to examine adolescent personality factors that distinguish trajectories of smoking behavior. Participants (N=975) were randomly selected and followed prospectively since 1975. Follow-up data on cigarette use and personality and behavioral attributes were collected at five points in time, using structured interviews given in private by trained interviewers. Of these subjects, 746 comprised the cohort used in this study. Growth mixture modeling identified five smoking trajectory groups: nonsmokers, occasional smokers, late starters, quitters, and heavy/continuous smokers. Adolescent personality and behavioral risk factors such as lower ego integration, more externalizing behavior, and lower educational aspirations distinguished the trajectory groups. No gender differences were noted. The findings supported the hypotheses indicating multiple distinct trajectory groups of smoking behavior. Smoking behavior appeared in early adolescence and most often continued into adulthood. Emotional difficulties (i.e., lower ego integration), externalizing behavior, and lower educational aspirations in early adolescence were associated both with smoking at an early age and with continuing to smoke into the thirties. To be more effective, smoking prevention programs should target personality and behavioral variations, before smoking becomes habitual, particularly focused on characteristics reflecting behavioral problems as manifested in emotional difficulties, externalizing behavior, and low educational aspirations in early adolescence. The implications for research, prevention, and treatment are discussed.