Annotated Bibliography of Marijuana Use Among Pre-Adolescents and Adolescents

Annotated Bibliography of Marijuana Use Among Pre-Adolescents and Adolescents John Paul Sharp

John Paul SharpApril 2013Annotated Bibliography of Marijuana Use Among Pre-Adolescents and Adolescents

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I am a writer, director, and performing artist living atop the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. For the purposes of furthering my learning in human development, I was curious to research marijuana use in pre-adolescent and adolescent children. At the end of the 2012, recreational marijuana use became legalized in Washington and Colorado states. In Seattle, the marijuana culture is visible all over the streets, on posters and free publications, as well as through dispensaries and paraphernalia stores. In my research, I wanted to learn about:

1. the frequency of marijuana use in pre-adolescent and adolescent children,2. specific developmental challenges for children of mothers who used marijuana

during pregnancy and whether these children are more prone to use marijuana at the pre-adolescent and adolescent stages of life,

3. potential developmental consequences for children who start using marijuana at the pre-adolescent and adolescent stages of life,

4. possible developmental issues for children regularly exposed to second-hand marijuana smoke,

5. and any studies that differentiate between smoking marijuana and other forms of consumption.

This annotated bibliography is written for laymen who are curious to learn about marijuana in the context of developmental psychology for children and adolescents. This work does not necessarily approach prevention strategies.

Bibliographic Sources This work contains articles from scholarly journals. Articles and studies were analyzed in terms of freshness (i.e., no more than five to eight years old), readability (i.e., the ability for laymen to understand the writing), breadth of authoritative information provided, and the degree of specification and dedication to marijuana research. Articles containing cultural aspects and explanations were given a higher priority for the final list. Not all articles are freely accessible to all people and the reader may be required to purchase articles to read them in their entirety.

ProceduresI searched for articles and studies through both the Auraria Campus Library (ACL) search, which is accessible only to students and faculty of several higher learning institutions in Denver, Colorado. I also performed minimal Google searches to find articles which I could also later find through an ACL search.

Keywords used in searches included: marijuana use, medical marijuana, or marijuana: AND children, adolescents, pre-adolescents, child development, human development,

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prenatal effects, studies on children, and adolescent addiction. Some articles were selected from references of other articles found through these searches.

Findings

Jacobus, J., Bava, S., Cohen-Zion, M., Mahmood, O., & Tapert, S.F. (2009). Functional consequences of marijuana use in adolescents. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 92(4), 559 – 565. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2009.04.001.

The authors detail the neurobiological consequences for children who use marijuana during the pre-teen adolescent period of life. Their findings showed similarities in use for adults, but because of their neurological changes taking place during childhood, early, chronic marijuana users are at a higher risk for engaging in risky behaviors, reduced educational performance, and an increased probability of psychiatric problems in later stages of life. The authors refer to 2008 statistics, claiming over half of 12th graders have tried marijuana and 6% of them are daily users. The authors make a point that 80% of adolescents are not getting the required hours of sleep each night and chronic marijuana users at this age may be suffering the greatest consequences. This article contains a great deal of terminology and may be difficult to read.

Minnes, S., Lang, A., & Singer, L. (2011). Prenatal tobacco, marijuana, stimulant, and opiate exposure: outcomes and practice implications. Addiction Science & Clinical Practice: A Journal of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 6, 57 – 70.

The authors provide a thorough background of the latest research on the potential outcomes for children born of mothers who use tobacco and other illicit drugs during pregnancy. While there is not much evidence showing marijuana use during pregnancy can affect newborns physically, some evidence has shown these children exhibit learning issues in adolescence, particularly in reading and spelling. The article gives a good representation of what prenatal studies were available in 2011 and suggests more studies specifically targeting pregnant woman who only use marijuana. Adolescents with a history of prenatal exposure to marijuana are thought to be 1.3 times more likely to use marijuana than those not exposed prenatally.

Schulenberg, J., Merline, A., Johnston, L., O'Malley, P., Bachaman, G., & Laetz, V. (2005). Trajectories of marijuana use during the transition to adulthood: the big picture based on national panel data. Journal of Drug Issues, 35, 255 – 279. doi: 10.1177/002204260503500203

This was the first known national longitudinal study of high-school seniors and marijuana use over the span of six years. The study was supported by the National

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Institute on Drug Abuse. While the study experienced normal issues associated with executing surveys and maintaining long-term contact with participants, the authors found abstainers were strikingly different from chronic users of marijuana. Males, and particularly White males, were more commonly chronic users and displayed typical traits of decreased educational performance and participation, likelihood for unemployment, and being heavily social. Over the course of six years, increased users exhibited these traits in the latter stages of the study and one could infer a correlation between chronic marijuana use and some stalling of development between adolescence and early adulthood. The authors were extremely thorough in their explanation of the limitations of their research and cited sources with integrity. While the article suffers readability in the findings section, the discussion was straightforward and easy to understand.

Cheadle, J., Hartshorn, K.J. (2012). Marijuana use development over the course of adolescence among North American Indigenous youth. Social Science Research, 4(5), 1227 – 1240. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.03.015.

This study is an extension of the previous 2005 study. The authors performed a longitudinal study of marijuana use with North American Indigenous youth in the most populated areas of the northern Midwest in America and remote areas of Canada. The article is easy to follow and the authors clearly outline the methods, procedures, theoretical framework, and the details of their participant groups. The most striking difference between the findings of both studies is how indigenous females were found to be twice as likely as their male counterparts to be early-onset (before or around age 10) marijuana users, simply due to having greater access to older men who provide it. While the findings are difficult to sort through, the discussion and limitations are clear.

Longest, K., Vaisey, S. (2008). Control or conviction: religion and adolescent initiation of marijuana use. Journal of Drug Issues, 38, 689 – 715. doi: 10.1177/002204260803800303.

The authors of this highly readable study argued and found religious salience had the greatest influence on whether an adolescent initiated marijuana use. The data was taken from the National Study of Youth and Religion over two waves in 2003 and 2005 with teenagers. This study is special because the authors further describe religious culture as an influence in terms of an individual's salience with that culture. The researchers found many children deeply embedded in religious activities were more likely to initiate marijuana use if their religious salience was low. In other words, religiosity does not prevent marijuana use in adolescence, but if a child's salience in religion is high, he or she will be less likely to meet and keep friends who are marijuana users. While I find this study interesting, I think there are potential issues with the integrity of the

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information received. Adolescents may or may not tell the truth to someone over the phone, collecting survey results.

Nonnemaker, J., Silber-Ashley, O., Farrelly, M. C., & Dench, D. (2012). Parent-child communication and marijuana initiation: evidence using discrete-time survival analysis. Addictive Behaviors, 37(12), 1342 – 1348. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2012.07.006

The authors of this study confirmed the belief that parents speaking to their children about drugs is not necessarily a protective activity to prevent drug use. The results from this study indicate parent-child communication about marijuana can actually increase the likelihood of marijuana use for some children. The authors indicate the importance of further research in the quality of parent-child communication and its effect on both marijuana initiation and continued levels of usage. This article is an important addition to this annotated bibliography not only for its specification to marijuana and its readability, but because the authors highlight an important message for parents and teachers: think about what you will say before you talk about marijuana or drugs so that young people are better equipped to make good decisions. Or, in other words, don't be unprepared when that time comes.

Iva Pejnović Franelić, I., Kuzman, M., Pavić Šimetin, I., & Kern, J. (2011). Impact of environmental factors on marijuana use in 11 European countries. Croat Med J., 52(4), 446–457. doi: 10.3325/cmj.2011.52.446.

To get a sense of adolescent marijuana use outside of America, I found a recent study which found peer use and availability of marijuana to be the main environmental factors for children in eleven European countries. Data was taken from the 2003 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and and Other Drugs. 3% to 13% of adolescents surveyed initiated early use of marijuana, with tobacco smoking being heavily associated as a contributing environmental factor. The article has high readability, but the information collected is based on self-reporting, which has integrity issues. This article is informative not just because it provides a different cultural background, but because the authors infer the act of smoking itself is addictive, and marijuana and nicotine can go hand-in-hand.

LimitationsThe study for this annotated bibliography took place over a limited amount of time and is not intended to be an authoritative resource for researchers. Rather, this work is intended to act as a starting point for anyone who wants to learn more about marijuana and human development.

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Because marijuana is a 'hot-button' topic today, bias is not heavily explored in this paper. I throw a caution to the reader to make your own judgments about the integrity of truth coming from authoritative resources mentioned. I think truth is generally found at face-value. However, many researchers and the organizations which fund them (e.g., governmental, collegiate, pharmaceutical, pharmalogical, addiction-therapy, etc.) naturally have some type of political stance and financial stake on the legalization or criminalization of marijuana use in general.

For example, in late 2012, the President of the University of Colorado, Bruce Benson, publicly stated his stance against any normalization or legalization of marijuana use1. To some, this can be seen as fear mongering toward the general learning community. Therefore, most researchers associated with that university will be contending with those kinds of pressures in their search for truth. I assume these types of pressures exist within other academic realms which may seek funding from companies or organization who fear legalization or normalization of marijuana in mainstream society. However, marijuana has become legalized in two states and we now have a greater need for objective research in the uses of marijuana.

When proper evidence or research is lacking, it is important for learners to give a multitude of perspectives equal review and consideration, understanding there are few funding organizations sitting 'somewhere in the middle' of marijuana research. Many of the articles I reviewed did not specify how the marijuana was used. Are these developmental issues related specifically to smoking marijuana? Are there differences between eating food which has marijuana and smoking, which is obviously harmful? These are questions I could not answer within the scope of this annotated bibliography.

What seems to be needed are more studies on adolescents and pregnant women who only use marijuana and don't smoke cigarettes or take other drugs. There is also a need for research which defines the type of ingestion of THC, as legalization of marijuana will undoubtedly expose more children to more forms of consumable marijuana. I could not find any research that detailed health affects for children exposed solely to second-hand marijuana smoke and can only assume the consequences are on the same level as nicotine smoke, but I cannot be sure. What I can be sure about is that marijuana is becoming more and more prevalent in American daily culture and now is the time to start new studies with open perspectives not tied to financial and political interests.

1 Rubino, J. (2012, December 8). Jared Polis blasts Bruce Benson for claims CU could lose $1B over Amendment 64. The Daily Camera. Retrieved from http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_22150601/bruce-benson-cu-risks-losing-1b-year-funding

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http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_22150601/bruce-benson-cu-risks-losing-1b-year-funding

http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_22150601/bruce-benson-cu-risks-losing-1b-year-funding

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Annotated Bibliography of Marijuana Use Among Pre-Adolescents and Adolescents