Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Section 1 Cannabis the drug and how it is used
- Section 2 The health effects of cannabis
- Section 3 The psychological effects of chronic cannabis use
- Section 4 Effects on adolescent development
- 10 Is cannabis a gateway drug?
- 11 Adolescent psychosocial outcomes
- Section 5 Harms and benefits of cannabis use
- Section 6 The effectiveness and costs of cannabis prohibition
- Section 7 Policy alternatives
- Appendix 1
- Appendix 2
- References
- Index
11 - Adolescent psychosocial outcomes
from Section 4 - Effects on adolescent development
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2016
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Section 1 Cannabis the drug and how it is used
- Section 2 The health effects of cannabis
- Section 3 The psychological effects of chronic cannabis use
- Section 4 Effects on adolescent development
- 10 Is cannabis a gateway drug?
- 11 Adolescent psychosocial outcomes
- Section 5 Harms and benefits of cannabis use
- Section 6 The effectiveness and costs of cannabis prohibition
- Section 7 Policy alternatives
- Appendix 1
- Appendix 2
- References
- Index
Summary
Adolescent cannabis use and educational performance
A major parental concern about adolescent cannabis use is that it will impair educational performance and increase the risk that a student will discontinue their education. This is a plausible outcome because cannabis use impairs memory and attention and so could interfere with learning (Baumrind and Moselle, 1985). Regular cannabis use could produce poorer school performance in high school and increase the chance that a student would drop out of school. If the adolescent's school performance was marginal to begin with, then cannabis use could increase the risk of high-school failure. Because of the importance of education in occupational choice, any effects of adolescent cannabis use on education could ramify throughout the individual's adult life.
Cross-sectional surveys have found associations between cannabis use and poor educational attainment among school children and youth. Resnick et al. (1997), for example, reported lower grade-point averages among cannabis users in a US national sample of 12,118 adolescents. An Australian study of 199 high school students aged 13-16 years found that young people who were heavy cannabis users had a more negative attitude toward school and a poorer record of school attendance than those who were not (Jones and Heaven, 1998). Lifrak et al. reported a negative correlation between cannabis use and scholastic competence for boys (but not for girls) in a sample of 271 seventh- and eighth-grade students (Lifrak et al., 1997). Novins 8c Mitchell (1998) also reported a significant association between poor school performance and cannabis use for males (but not for females) in a sample of 1464 American Indian adolescents. This association persisted after adjustment for antisocial behaviours, peer affiliations and other substance use.
A number of studies have also shown that cannabis use is higher among young people who either no longer attend school or who had high rates of school absenteeism. For example, Lynskey et al. (1999) found that young people in the Australian School Students’ Alcohol and Drugs Survey who reported being away from school the day before the survey had higher rates of cannabis use than students who attended school on that day.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Cannabis Use and DependencePublic Health and Public Policy, pp. 115 - 126Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002