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researchers say evidence is lacking that teen weed users are slackers
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greater cannabis use at baseline was associated with greater disengagement, lower planning and lower valuing of school, as well as predicted lesser increases in disengagement over time. /
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by: angela stelmakowich
new research out of the u.s. did not prove a commonly held stereotype that young people use cannabis are basically a bunch of slackers.
“our results do not support a prospective link between cannabis use and reduced motivation among adolescents,” investigators write in the study, published last week in the journal of the international neuropsychological society.
considering the mixed results on whether or not using cannabis promotes slacking, research that primarily involved adults, assessed 401 adolescents aged 14 to 17. “motivation is a multi-faceted construct that encompasses the cognitions, emotions and behaviours involved in the activation, execution and persistence of goal-directed behaviour.”
wanting to examine longitudinal associations between weed use and self-reported motivation, participants completed five bi-annual assessments and researchers looked at motivation at three time-points during the study period. specifically, investigators considered factors such as disengagement, persistence, planning, self-efficacy and valuing school.
what researchers found, in general, was that “on average, adolescent cannabis use frequency increased significantly over time. the disengagement and planning facets of motivation also increased significantly over time, whereas other aspects of motivation remained stable.”
greater cannabis use at baseline was associated with greater disengagement, lower planning and lower valuing of school, as well as predicted lesser increases in disengagement over time.
“together, our findings suggest that cannabis users may display lower levels of certain aspects of motivation,” the study states. “however, most of these associations can be explained by other factors, particularly participant demographics, such as age and sex and depression,” they note.
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however, “only the baseline association between cannabis use and valuing school remained significant,” the study states. in itself, that may be of concern, since it “may contribute to poorer educational and later life outcomes,” it adds.
“our findings also indicated that females, but not males, who reported higher self-efficacy at baseline showed greater escalation in cannabis use over time.” investigators write.
citing the study, the national organization for the reform of marijuana laws (norml) notes that the significant increase in cannabis use “did not predict changes in motivation, which suggests that cannabis use may not lead to reductions in motivation over time.”
“modern science is setting the record straight and exposing much of the ‘reefer madness’ of the past decades,” paul armentano, norml’s deputy director, contends in a post. “unfortunately, many of these myths still remain prevalent in our society, and are often raised by politicians in their efforts to justify the failed policies of marijuana prohibition and stigmatization,” armentano adds.
while weed use was up significantly, “the majority of participants did not report heavy, daily cannabis use,” the investigators write. “our results may thus not generalize to cannabis users with heavier or more chronic use trajectories,” they point out.
“future studies should continue to examine consequences of cannabis use during adolescence to examine possible dose-response relationships between cannabis use and motivation,” researchers write.
in terms of physical motivation, a recent study of young and middle-aged adults found there may be a positive link between cannabis use and exercise.
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