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Associations between adolescent cannabis use and young-adult functioning in three longitudinal twin studies.

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Title: Associations between adolescent cannabis use and young-adult functioning in three longitudinal twin studies.
Authors: Schaefer, Jonathan D.1 schae567@umn.edu, Hamdi, Nayla R.2, Malone, Stephen M.3, Vrieze, Scott3, Wilson, Sylia1, McGue, Matt3
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 4/6/2021, Vol. 118 Issue 14, p1-9. 9p.
Subjects: Grade point average, Marijuana, Twin studies, Young adults, Child psychiatry, Longitudinal method, Teenagers
Abstract: Observational studies have linked cannabis use to an array of negative outcomes, including psychiatric symptoms, cognitive impairment, and educational and occupational underachievement. These associations are particularly strong when cannabis use occurs in adolescence. Nevertheless, causality remains unclear. The purpose of the present study was thus to examine associations between prospectively assessed adolescent cannabis use and young-adult outcomes (psychiatric, cognitive, and socioeconomic) in three longitudinal studies of twins (n = 3,762). Twins reporting greater cumulative cannabis use in adolescence reported higher levels of psychopathology as well as poorer socioeconomic outcomes in young adulthood. However, cannabis use remained associated only with socioeconomic outcomes (i.e., educational attainment, occupational status, and income) in monozygotic-cotwin control analyses, which account fully for shared genetic and environmental confounding. Follow-up analyses examining associations between twin differences in adolescent cannabis use and longitudinal change in academic functioning during the middle- and high-school years provided a possible mechanism for these associations, indicating that greater cannabis use during this period was associated with decreases in grade point average and academic motivation as well as increases in academic problem behavior and school disciplinary problems. Our findings thus suggest that cannabis use in adolescence has potentially causal, deleterious effects on adolescent academic functioning and youngadult socioeconomic outcomes despite little evidence suggesting a strong, causal influence on adult mental health or cognitive ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Abstract:Observational studies have linked cannabis use to an array of negative outcomes, including psychiatric symptoms, cognitive impairment, and educational and occupational underachievement. These associations are particularly strong when cannabis use occurs in adolescence. Nevertheless, causality remains unclear. The purpose of the present study was thus to examine associations between prospectively assessed adolescent cannabis use and young-adult outcomes (psychiatric, cognitive, and socioeconomic) in three longitudinal studies of twins (n = 3,762). Twins reporting greater cumulative cannabis use in adolescence reported higher levels of psychopathology as well as poorer socioeconomic outcomes in young adulthood. However, cannabis use remained associated only with socioeconomic outcomes (i.e., educational attainment, occupational status, and income) in monozygotic-cotwin control analyses, which account fully for shared genetic and environmental confounding. Follow-up analyses examining associations between twin differences in adolescent cannabis use and longitudinal change in academic functioning during the middle- and high-school years provided a possible mechanism for these associations, indicating that greater cannabis use during this period was associated with decreases in grade point average and academic motivation as well as increases in academic problem behavior and school disciplinary problems. Our findings thus suggest that cannabis use in adolescence has potentially causal, deleterious effects on adolescent academic functioning and youngadult socioeconomic outcomes despite little evidence suggesting a strong, causal influence on adult mental health or cognitive ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:00278424
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2013180118