While some studies have suggested these impairments may be reversible after abstaining from use, others found heavy use may worsen attention and memory if initiated during adolescence. Additionally, adolescent cannabis use is related to poor educational outcomes, lower career achievement, and lower relationship and life satisfaction. Despite these risks, adolescents’ cannabis use has risen and their overall perception that cannabis use is harmful has declined over the past two decades. These shifts could be attributed to the rapidly changing policies regarding cannabis legalization. While results have been inconsistent in the role legalization plays in adolescent cannabis use, there is an increased need for public health campaigns and interventions designed to address misperceptions of cannabis use. Due to emerging pro-cannabis messaging on social media, adolescents are exposed to less information about the health-related risks of using grow lights for cannabis while there is an increasing amount of data promoting its potential benefits, such as pain reduction. Increased information about cannabis use risks alone has not been found to help change adolescent behaviors.
Additionally, pro-substance use media messages have been recognized as having a strong association with adolescents’ substance use, further emphasizing the influences that may offset the effects of media exposures on adolescents. Given the significant inverse relationship between perception of risk and substance use, it is essential to further investigate modifiable factors that contribute to the perception of risk. Previous studies have indicated there may be protective effects on an adolescent’s decision to use cannabis from parental, peer, and school-related factors.Using a nationally representative sample, Simantov, Schoen, and Klein found that strong parental support reduces the risk of adolescents smoking and drinking. Barrera and colleagues obtained similar results in a sample of seventh-grade students in Oregon; those with greater parental monitoring had stronger family relationships and less involvement with peers who used substances.Following adolescents from age 12 to age 23, Van Ryzin and colleagues identified different influential roles for family and friends; with family playing a stronger role among younger adolescents and friends being more influential in early adulthood.
Moreover, parental monitoring and family relations may play a role in how adolescents choose their friends.As adolescents decrease their time with parents and family, their relationships with their peers increase, and these relationships could play a critical role in their decision to use substances. When their peers disapprove of using substances, adolescents have lower odds of substance use themselves.Conversely, the perception of peers engaging in use and deviant peer association predict the onset of substance use. An examination of peer influences on adolescent substance use using the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that adolescents with close friends who disapprove of grow cannabis were 87% less likely to use, which was a stronger influence than when friends disapproved of cigarette and alcohol use. Adolescents’ perceptions of their peers engaging in substance use also appears important.
Brook and colleagues conducted an integrated analysis from three longitudinal studies to examine predictors of cannabis use among adolescents and consistently found that adolescents were more likely to use cannabis if they believed their peers used it as well.Urberg and others found similar results where adolescents with close friendships with peers who drink alcohol and/or smoke cigarettes were more likely to use those respective substances.To have a holistic understanding of an adolescent’s life, it is necessary to account for school-related factors, since adolescents spend most of their time in school. Positive school perception and participating in extracurricular activities have been identified as protective factors in preventing adolescent substance use.A longitudinal school-based survey of students in 7th and 9th grade conducted in Washington State, USA, and Victoria, Australia found that those who were more likely to report low school commitment had higher odds of using cannabis.Furthermore, results from a cross-sectional study conducted in Connecticut found adolescents who participated in extracurricular activities had lower odds for both lifetime and 30-day cannabis use.