Weed - Is it Really Harmless?
Popular culture has always made it seem that smoking weed is a risk-free exercise.
But is it really? A long term research which started in 1975 and concluded in the mid-90's, might give you some pause.
A random sampling of close to 1,900 kids from about a thousand families in upstate New York were selected and tracked in terms of their early marijuana use, all the way to their adulthood.
Data was collected through 2 hour interviews with each participant, with focus on marijuana use and measurements of interpersonal difficulties and aggression in relationships with other people.
Children from the sampling were studied from adolescence through adulthood, from 1975 through 1996.
This long term approach was conducted because existing research on establishing the impact of early marijuana use and its impact to the quality of later adult relationships has had contradictory results.
Some indicate it will risk your future marital relationships while some have found no impact at all.
To clarify this contradiction, this long term research adopted a more comprehensive approach by randomly selecting the above group of children and monitored them at various stages in their lives from early adolescence to their late twenties.
Data was collected on early marijuana use, interpersonal difficulties and aggression in relationships, and parental variables in terms of communication and time spent with a child.
Results are as follows: o Marijuana use in early adolescence does adversely impact the quality of your relationship to your significant other, meaning your spouse or anyone you have an exclusive relationship with, as you reach your mid-to-late-twenties.
This adverse effect translates to low perceptions in relationship harmony and higher level of disagreements.
o Early marijuana use also impacts the quality of relationships with parents, which may be due to depressive symptoms and higher a motivational syndrome associated with its use.
These findings are subject to the usual limitations of self-reporting when gathering the data.
In addition, the results would have been stronger if more data was gathered on the profile of the 'significant others', (i.
e.
were they also early users of marijuana or other drugs, how are their relationships with their parents), data which may also explain the adverse results above.
Irrespective of these limitations, this research provides useful insights, showing that marijuana use is not as benign as it looks, and that if you do choose to use it in early in your adolescence, that it will potentially have an adverse impact to the quality of your future adult relationships.
But is it really? A long term research which started in 1975 and concluded in the mid-90's, might give you some pause.
A random sampling of close to 1,900 kids from about a thousand families in upstate New York were selected and tracked in terms of their early marijuana use, all the way to their adulthood.
Data was collected through 2 hour interviews with each participant, with focus on marijuana use and measurements of interpersonal difficulties and aggression in relationships with other people.
Children from the sampling were studied from adolescence through adulthood, from 1975 through 1996.
This long term approach was conducted because existing research on establishing the impact of early marijuana use and its impact to the quality of later adult relationships has had contradictory results.
Some indicate it will risk your future marital relationships while some have found no impact at all.
To clarify this contradiction, this long term research adopted a more comprehensive approach by randomly selecting the above group of children and monitored them at various stages in their lives from early adolescence to their late twenties.
Data was collected on early marijuana use, interpersonal difficulties and aggression in relationships, and parental variables in terms of communication and time spent with a child.
Results are as follows: o Marijuana use in early adolescence does adversely impact the quality of your relationship to your significant other, meaning your spouse or anyone you have an exclusive relationship with, as you reach your mid-to-late-twenties.
This adverse effect translates to low perceptions in relationship harmony and higher level of disagreements.
o Early marijuana use also impacts the quality of relationships with parents, which may be due to depressive symptoms and higher a motivational syndrome associated with its use.
These findings are subject to the usual limitations of self-reporting when gathering the data.
In addition, the results would have been stronger if more data was gathered on the profile of the 'significant others', (i.
e.
were they also early users of marijuana or other drugs, how are their relationships with their parents), data which may also explain the adverse results above.
Irrespective of these limitations, this research provides useful insights, showing that marijuana use is not as benign as it looks, and that if you do choose to use it in early in your adolescence, that it will potentially have an adverse impact to the quality of your future adult relationships.
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