The risks for late adolescence of early adolescent marijuana use.

Abstract

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.

Acute Marijuana Effects on Human Risk Taking

“…Marijuana use is related to a number of risky behaviors that may result in aversive consequences to self or others, including crime, other drug use, risky driving, traffic accidents, and high-risk sexual activity (Brook et al, 1999;Cunningham et al, 2000;Friedman et al, 2001;Kingree et al, 2000). Despite the relationship between marijuana use and maladaptive risky behavior, few laboratory studies have investigated the relationship between marijuana intoxication and risk taking (Janowsky et al, 1976;Liguori et al, 1998;and Ramaekers et al, 2000 showed impaired riskrelated performance on driving/flying simulators).…”

“…A survey of instances of negative consequences resulting from marijuana intoxication (with several items relating to risk taking, for example, physical injury, arrest, driving accidents) found that incidence of these items was related to frequency of marijuana use (Cunningham et al, 2000). Early-onset marijuana use is related to later delinquency, having multiple sexual partners, and use of other drugs (Brook et al, 1999). Marijuana use is associated with criminal behavior, notably attempted homicide, drug trafficking, and delinquency in adolescents and young adults (Fergusson and Horwood, 1997;Friedman et al, 2001;Watts and Wright, 1990;White, 1991).…”

UPPS-P model impulsivity and marijuana use behaviors in adolescents: A meta-analysis

“…Adolescents that use marijuana have lower grades and exam scores, are less likely to attend college, are more likely to be unemployed, and have lower life satisfaction (Cobb-Clark et al, 2015;Johnston et al, 2014). Furthermore, adolescents that use marijuana are more likely to engage in other risk taking behaviors such as stealing, using weapons in acts of violence, having risky sex, and having accidental injuries (Brook et al, 1999;Castellanos-Ryan et al, 2013;Chassin et al, 2010;Churchwell et al, 2010;Crews et al, 2007;Dévieux et al, 2002). Using marijuana can stunt brain development, including development of socio-emotional areas (i.e., amygdala, ventral striatum, orbitofrontal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, and superior temporal sulcus) and cognitive control (i.e., lateral prefrontal, lateral parietal, and anterior cingulate cortices) (e.g., Crews et al, 2007;Chassin et al, 2010;Gruber et al, 2014), leading to the more pronounced difficulties in adulthood (e.g., Hall, 2009;Hall and Degenhardt, 2009;Meier et al, 2012).…”

Childhood predictors of adolescent marijuana use: Early sensation-seeking, deviant peer affiliation, and social images

“…Nevertheless, in 2006, nearly one half (42.3%) of 12 th grade and one third (31.8%) of 10th grade students reported having tried marijuana at least once in their lives (Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2007). Using marijuana in adolescence is associated with damaging consequences for later health and well-being including lower educational attainment, more high-risk sexual behavior, more delinquent behavior, and more problem use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana (e.g., Brook, Balka, & Whiteman, 1999). Identification of psychosocial risk factors that predict marijuana use, and the processes leading to marijuana use, should be valuable for the development of prevention programs to target these mechanisms.…”