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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Adolescence is a critical period for cognitive, social, and emotional development. Existing data on dose-dependent associations between cannabis use and adverse psychosocial development indicators in adolescence are limited, particularly for low-frequency users. We describe relationships between cannabis use frequency and psychosocial indicators. METHODS: This cross-sectional study used a US nationally representative sample of 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students from the 2018-2022 Monitoring the Future surveys. Participants were categorized for nonuse and noncurrent, monthly, weekly, and near-daily cannabis use. We describe demographically adjusted odds of cannabis use frequency and cognitive, social, and emotional indicators. RESULTS: Among 162 532 respondents (mean age, 16.0 years SD, 1.7; 45.8% male; racially and ethnically diverse), 42 601 (26.2%) were cannabis users: 7515 (4.6%) were near-daily, 5853 (3.6%) were weekly, 7802 (4.8%) were monthly, and 21 431 (13.2%) were noncurrent users. Compared with nonusers, noncurrent and monthly users had greater odds of poor academic performance (adjusted odds ratio aOR, 1.30-2.20), poor impulsivity and self-regulation (aOR, 1.26-2.19), and adverse emotional states (aOR, 1.1-1.42). Adjusted odds of all adverse psychosocial categories, excluding low social engagement, showed a consistent dose-response trend. Effect sizes were small for poor academic performance (d = 0.39-0.44), small to medium for poor impulsivity and self-regulation (d = 0.43-0.55), small for adverse emotional state (d = 0.33-0.40), and none to small (d = 0.03-0.18) for low social engagement. Younger users (aged <16 years) showed greater susceptibility for academic and emotional indicators. CONCLUSION: In this nationally representative sample, dose-dependent associations of frequency of cannabis use with adverse academic and emotional functioning were observed, even among monthly users, underscoring the importance of routinely inquiring about cannabis use in adolescents.
Sultan et al. (Tue,) studied this question.