Studies have supported that prolonged marijuana use has negatively impacted the grades of students throughout school, as well as the likelihood of attending college. Researchers have correlated heavy marijuana use to higher drop out rates, not attending post/secondary education, and more/longer gap periods throughout school.

Academic Consequences of Marijuana Use

Arria, A. M., Caldeira, K. M., Bugbee, B. A., Vincent, K. B., & O'Grady, K. E. (2015). The academic consequences of marijuana use during college. Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors, 29(3), 564–575. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000108

Reference for Academic Consequences of Marijuana Use

College students who are have higher social anxiety appear to be more vulnerable and impacted by marijuana problems. Students who were classified with social anxiety disorder were five times more likely to develop a dependence for marijuana in the future. 

A key discernment between those who use marijuana more frequently than others appears to be the difference in expectancies. College students who use more expect positive effects, like mood reduction. Whereas, college students who expect the negative effects of marijuana, use the substance less.

Social anxiety does not relate to the amount of marijuana that is consumed but the particular negative or positive expectancies that an individual has when anticipating the taking of the substance. There is a positive correlation between social anxiety and having negative expectancies of marijuana. 

Social Anxiety and Marijuana Use

Buckner, J. D., & Schmidt, N. B. (2008). Marijuana effect expectancies: relations to social anxiety and marijuana use problems. Addictive behaviors, 33(11), 1477–1483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2008.06.017

Reference for Social Anxiety and Marijuana Use

44% of college students reported having used marijuana while in school. This number has been increasing since the 80s. Furthermore, 8% of college students reported to intake marijuana on a daily basis. Administration of marijuana has increases to with the use of vaping devices.

Creighton University

The most commonly used substances by college students in the United States is reported to be alcohol, marijuana, psychedelic drugs, painkillers, and stimulants. Most of these substances become widely available to students upon entering college, and along with the independence creates an increase in use.

Substance Use in College

It is extremely common among college students to be consuming alcohol and participating in binge drinking.

Binge Drinking is defined as consuming 4 or more alcoholic beverages for women and five or more alcoholic beverages for men.

Alcohol Use with College Students

5% to 35% of college students use unprescribed Adderall while in their time at school. 20% of college students abuse prescription stimulants, including Adderall. 

Prescription Stimulants and College Students

Marijuana Use in College Students

Although not considered to be classified as a substance use disorder, caffeine is the most commonly used psychoactive substance in the world, with 92% of college students consuming beverages with caffeine every day. Beverages can range from tea, coffee, energy drinks, and more. The average amount of caffeine consumed by that 92% is around 173mg.

Caffeine Use with College Students

Mahoney, C. R., Giles, G. E., Marriott, B. P., Judelson, D. A., Glickman, E. L., Geiselman, P. J., & Lieberman, H. R. (2019). Intake of caffeine from all sources and reasons for use by college students. Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland), 38(2), 668–675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2018.04.004

Reference for Caffeine Use with College Students

Kennedy S. (2018). Raising Awareness About Prescription and Stimulant Abuse in College Students Through On-Campus Community Involvement Projects. Journal of undergraduate neuroscience education : JUNE : a publication of FUN, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, 17(1), A50–A53.

Learn Before

Related

Learn After