Age of cannabis use onset and adult drug abuse symptoms : a prospective study of common risk factors and indirect effects
Article [Accepted Manuscript]
Is part of
Canadian journal of psychiatry = Revue canadienne de psychiatrie ; vol. 63, no. 7, pp. 457-464.Publisher(s)
SAGEAuthor(s)
Affiliation
- Université de Montréal. Faculté des arts et des sciences. Département de psychologie
- Université de Montréal. Faculté des arts et des sciences. École de psychoéducation
- Université de Montréal. Faculté de médecine. Département de pédiatrie
- Université de Montréal. Faculté de médecine. Département de psychiatrie et d'addictologie
Abstract(s)
Objective: The present study examined (1) whether the associations between cannabis use
(CU) age of onset and drug abuse by 28 years remain when controlling for risk factors in
childhood, adolescence and early adulthood; and (2) developmental pathways from early
risk factors to drug abuse problems.
Method: Participants from a longitudinal sample of low SES boys (N=1030) were followed
from 6 to 28 years. Self-reported CU onset between 13 and 17 years of age and drug abuse
symptoms by 28 years were examined.
Results: The odds of developing any drug abuse symptoms by 28 years were reduced by
31% for each year of delayed CU onset (OR = 0.69). Cannabis, alcohol and other drug
frequency at 17 years mediated this association. Still, even when taking that frequency of
use into account, adolescents who started using cannabis before 15 years were at higher risk
of developing drug abuse symptoms by age 28. Significant indirect effects were found from
early adolescent delinquency and affiliation with deviant friends to drug abuse symptoms at
28 years through CU age of onset and substance use frequency at 17 years.
Conclusions: Results suggest more clearly than before that prevention programs should
aim at delaying CU onset in order to prevent or reduce drug abuse in adulthood.
Furthermore, prevention programs targeting delinquency and/or affiliation with deviant
friends in childhood or early adolescence could indirectly reduce substance abuse in
adulthood without addressing substance use specifically.
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