Teens marijuana

From the early to mid 1990s, teenage use of marijuana increased. This increase peaked around 1996 to 1997, and, since then, teen marijuana use has stabilized at these levels, showing little increase or decline. 

As this graph from the NHSDA survey indicates, teenagers are more likely to report past year marijuana use as they grow older, with over 24% of 15- to 16-year-olds reporting marijuana use in 2000. Peer influence and accessibility are determining factors in teen marijuana use. 

Many personality theories have been examined by researchers in relation to teen marijuana use. In one study, to categorize the personality differences between adolescent drug users and non-users, researchers created a scale of conventionality-unconventionality. In one study, the basic personality traits of young adolescents were categorized before their use of any drugs. Based on their personality traits, the adolescents were put into one of two groups unconventional and conventional. Predictions were then made on who would use drugs (unconventional personality) and who would not (conventional personality). 

Many study findings have hypothesized that marijuana causes psychological problems such as amotivational syndrome (lack of motivation), which links poor school performance to teen marijuana use. The assertion is that marijuana makes... 

Achieving pleasant or euphoric moods is clearly a perceived benefit of marijuana use. But it is equally important to recognize that avoiding unpleasant moods or situations can be another important motivator and therefore provides another dimension of reinforcement. Both experiences—pleasure or avoidance of pain or sadness—can lead the teen marijuana user to become psychologically dependent on marijuana. In fact, researchers believe that teens who use marijuana to seek relief from emotional pains such as anger, depression, and family/school problems experience even stronger reinforcement for repeated marijuana use than those motivated by a desire for euphoria. Since daily users often seem to use... 

One of the hardest things for a teen to do is to stop associating with drug-taking friends. Peer influence is one of the strongest predictive factors of teen marijuana use. And so... 

With only one such smdy conducted in the United States, it is necessary to look elsewhere for additional evidence of how teen marijuana use changes when the drug is decriminalized. Smdies published by governments in places where marijuana use has been decriminalized, including the Netherlands and two of Australia s... 

In late teens into mid-twenties, heavy abuse of stimulants, barbiturates, and alcohol currently smokes marijuana three times per week and states "it calms me down and helps me sleep" occasionally drinks on weekends... 

Social factors such as peer pressure at school or work as well as family patterns of substance use can also contribute to the risk. Teenagers who respond to pressure to use gateway drugs such as alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana in their early teens are more likely to develop substance dependence disorders than those who refrain from doing so until their late teens. 

Teenagers with anxiety, like adults, are more likely to abuse drugs. Sometimes this involves drinking alcohol, but more often, anxiety-ridden teens try to self-medicate with marijuana. These individuals report that marijuana calms their symptoms of anxiety, and so they use it regularly. Teens who use marijuana often will experience symptoms of withdrawal when they do not use the drug, including nervousness and irritability—the same symptoms produced by their anxiety disorders. This makes these teens more sensitive to marijuana withdrawal, and they will use more marijuana to avoid the... 

In the past decade. Ecstasy use has exploded. In fact, although overall illicit drug use by teens markedly decreased in the past several years — including use of marijuana, inhalants, hallucinogens, LSD, cocaine, crack, heroin, tranquilizers, alcohol, cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco — Ecstasy use continued to rise, unabated (Figure 5.1). 

Users also have specific trends regarding how and with what they consume Ecstasy. Though generally taken orally in pill form, Boston users in their late teens and early twenties sometimes inject MDMA and ketamine intramuscularly, and Sioux Falls users increasingly crush and snort it. Ecstasy is also frequently taken in combination with or sequentially with alcohol, marijuana, or both. Other drugs are also taken with MDMA (LSD, GHB, ketamine, prescription pills, heroin, cough syrup, camphor/menthol inhalants, Viagra , and nitrous oxide). 

Consequences of the short-term effects of marijuana can greatly influence a teen s future life. Short-term acute effects describe a condition that is temporary and short-lived longterm chronic effects are cumulative and can last a lifetime. Many studies document the acute and chronic health consequences of smoking marijuana. For instance, there are consistent reports that marijuana temporarily impairs short-term memory and learning. This is confirmed by users of marijuana outside the... 

PREDICTIVE FACTORS WHY DO SOME TEENS CHOOSE TO USE MARIJUANA ... 

The availability of marijuana to teens has been tracked by both the NHSDA and the MTF survey. In 2001, MTF asked, How difficult do you think it would be for you to get marijuana Findings include ... 

Experts speak of perceived risk versus perceived benefit when attempting to understand the teenage trends of marijuana use. Most of our everyday decisions are based on a balanced scale of these two ideas. When deciding to do something, we weigh the pros and cons—the benefits and risks—and then make our decision. It is commonly believed that this risk/ benefit assessment is a primary factor in determining whether or not a teen will use marijuana. 

In further assessing the impact that the perceived risks of marijuana might have on teens, the 2001 MTF survey asked How much do you think people risk harming themselves (physically or in other ways) if they try marijuana once or twice, smoke marijuana occasionally, or smoke marijuana regularly The data from this survey showed that fewer teenagers today perceive a risk from using marijuana in any of the manners described above than did their counterparts 10 years ago ... 

A teen s basic personality structure is intimately intertwined with all other predictive factors of marijuana use. Researchers have long hypothesized that marijuana causes a teen to behave or act in certain ways. Often, heavy marijuana use in adolescence is associated with such traits as poor school performance, delinquency, acts of violence, laziness, mental health problems, and so on. 

Do teens urge other teens to use marijuana Research points out that friends definitely influence other friends when it comes to using marijuana. However, this does not seem to take the form of coercion (defined here as peer pressure ) among teens regarding the decision to use or not use marijuana. In fact, research shows that marijuana use tends to flow from a more reciprocal relationship between friends. Thus, many researchers tend to speak about peer... 

Peer influence does appear to be one of the strongest factors affecting a teen s decision to use marijuana. Various studies and surveys consistently show that if teens have friends who use marijuana, they are more likely to use marijuana themselves. Those who do not have friends who use marijuana are less likely to use it themselves. Studies show that teens using marijuana tend to move toward new circles of friends who also use marijuana, simultaneously increasing peer acceptance, access to marijuana, and the influence of other marijuanausing friends. The more alienated a teen feels from friends and... 

The 2001 MTF survey supports these findings. When asked, Do you disapprove of people who try marijuana once or twice, smoke marijuana occasionally, or smoke marijuana regularly, here is what teens had to say ... 

Teens with friends who would not be very upset if they tried marijuana are 16 times more likely to try marijuana than those whose friends would be very upset. ... 

Teens with friends who use marijuana are 39 times more likely to use marijuana themselves. 

Teens whose parents ever used marijuana were about two to three times more likely to have ever used marijuana themselves. This parental influence did not vary among different racial/ethnic groups. 

Parental use of cigarettes or alcohol was more likely than parental use of marijuana to increase the risk of teen use of marijuana. 

Attitudes about perceived lack of harm from marijuana influenced teen use of marijuana more than parental influence. This association between marijuana use and a... 

Parents who perceived little risk associated with marijuana had teens with similar attitudes. A recent NHSDA reports that teens are 9.6 times more likely to try marijuana if they have parents who would not be very upset if they tried it. Although some experts hypothesized that prior parental use of marijuana might influence teenagers, research has shown that baby-boomer parents (who grew up in a period of high marijuana use) did not account for the different rates of teenage marijuana use. 

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