Marijuana Use Trajectories During College Predict Health Outcomes Nine Years Post-Matriculation
BACKGROUND:
Several
studies have linked marijuana use with a variety of health outcomes among young
adults. Information about marijuana's long-term health effects is critically
needed.
METHODS:
Data are
from a ten-year study of 1253 young adults originally recruited as first-year
college students and assessed annually thereafter. Six trajectories of
marijuana use during college (Non-Use, Low-Stable, Early-Decline, College-Peak,
Late-Increase, Chronic) were previously derived using latent variable growth
mixture modeling. Nine health outcomes assessed in Year 10 (modal age 27) were
regressed on a group membership variable for the six group trajectories,
holding constant demographics, baseline health status, and alcohol and tobacco
trajectory group membership.
RESULTS:
Marijuana
trajectory groups differed significantly on seven of the nine outcomes
(functional impairment due to injury, illness, or emotional problems;
psychological distress; subjective well-being; and mental and physical health
service utilization; all ps<.001), but not on general health rating or body
mass index. Non-users fared better than the Late-Increase and Chronic groups on
most physical and mental health outcomes. The declining groups (Early-Decline,
College-Peak) fared better than the Chronic group on mental health outcomes.
The Late-Increase group fared significantly worse than the stable groups
(Non-Use, Low-Stable, Chronic) on both physical and mental health outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS:
Even
occasional or time-limited marijuana use might have adverse effects on physical
and mental health, perhaps enduring after several years of moderation or
abstinence. Reducing marijuana use frequency might mitigate such effects.
Individuals who escalate their marijuana use in their early twenties might be
at especially high risk for adverse outcomes.
- 1Center on Young Adult Health and Development (https://sph.umd.edu/department/bch/center-young-adult-health-and-development), University of Maryland School of Public Health, Department of Behavioral and Community Health, 2387 School of Public Health Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Electronic address: aarria@umd.edu.
- 2Center on Young Adult Health and Development, University of Maryland School of Public Health, Department of Behavioral and Community Health, 2387 School of Public Health Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Electronic address: caldeira@umd.edu.
- 3Center on Young Adult Health and Development, University of Maryland School of Public Health, Department of Behavioral and Community Health, 2387 School of Public Health Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Electronic address: bbugbee@umd.edu.
- 4Center on Young Adult Health and Development, University of Maryland School of Public Health, Department of Behavioral and Community Health, 2387 School of Public Health Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Electronic address: kvincent@umd.edu.
- 5Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, 3109 Biology-Psychology Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Electronic address: ogrady@umd.edu.
- Drug Alcohol Depend. 2016 Feb 1;159:158-65. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.12.009. Epub 2015 Dec 23.
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