Can't find what you are looking for? Try my
Search Page
NIDA Research News
Teen Marijuana Use Can Lead to Anxiety, Depression, or Aggression
Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have found that adolescents who smoke
marijuana exhibit a variety of behavior problems, including anxiety, depression,
or aggression, throughout their teen years and into adulthood. The researchers
studied 2,226 Colombian teens between the ages of 12 and 17. The youth were
first surveyed in 1995-1996 and again in 1997-1998. Trained interviewers talked
to adolescents in their homes in three Colombian cities, obtaining information
about frequency of marijuana use and measures of psychological distress.
Marijuana use was categorized as either regular use (one or more times a month)
or less than regular use.
The first analysis of interview data examined the influence of early adolescent distress and aggression on regular marijuana use in late adolescence. The second analysis looked at the detrimental effect of early marijuana use on psychological distress and aggression in older teens.
Psychological stress and aggression during early adolescence first appeared to predict regular marijuana use during late adolescence. But when marijuana use in early adolescence was factored in, the results changed. Anxiety, symptoms of depression, and aggression all lost significance as predictors of late adolescent marijuana use, while marijuana use in early adolescence significantly predicted increases in measures of distress and aggression in late adolescence. The study indicated also that marijuana use was related to decreased functioning over time.
 | WHAT IT MEANS: These findings imply early drug use can be a factor in the development of later psychiatric disorders and problem behaviors. |
The study, led by Dr. Judith S. Brook, appears in the January 2001 issue of the New York State Psychologist.
