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Behavioral, Psychosocial, and Academic Correlates of Marijuana Usage in Adolescence

A Study of a Cohort Under Treatment

Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, Department of Pediatrics, Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, Virginia

Norman G. Hoffmann

Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota and the Chemical Abuse/Addiction Treatment Outcome Registry (CATOR), St. Paul, Minnesota

Richard Jones

Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC

In 1985 approximately 120,000 American high school seniors smoked marijuana daily. We interviewed 35 middle-class, cannabis-dependent adolescents with a mean age of 16 years who were patients in a drug treatment program. The patients also completed a lengthy self-assessment questionnaire designed to elicit information on drug-related problems. Our results show that family harmony, school attendance, and school achievement deteriorated once these young people began to use marijuana at least 4 days a week. The following behaviors were noted: remaining away from home without permission or parental knowledge for at least 7 consecutive days (29%), a D or F grade average on the last report card before they entered the drug treatment program (43%), involvement in a motor vehicle accident when the driver was under the influence of marijuana (26%), suicide attempts (20%), and convincing a "marijuana-naive" younger sibling to smoke the drug (20%). Despite such seemingly apparent signs of possible drug use by these 35 adolescents, a mean time of 12 months elapsed before parents suspected their children of marijuana abuse. In many cases mental health professionals consulted by a number of the children when they were using drugs were likewise unaware of the marijuana abuse.

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