Findings: Drug use as self-medication
The paper found that the link between drug use and mental health exists even at low levels of drug and alcohol use. Dr. Terbo-Clemens said adolescents with low levels of drug use may be self-medicating, and relatively modest drug use is unlikely to be causing underlying mental health problems. .
However, the study also found that those who used substances most frequently and intensively experienced the most severe mental health symptoms. Dr. Tervo-Clemens said that in these cases, adolescents may be using substances to self-medicate, only to make their symptoms worse.
Specifically, the study found that daily or near-daily substance use, as opposed to weekly or monthly, was associated with a moderate increase in symptoms. The researchers explained that this relationship was “dose-dependent” because the level of use was related to the intensity of symptoms.
Background: Two powerful datasets
The strength of this study lies in the use of two datasets with similar results.
One sample used survey data from 15,600 Massachusetts high school students with a median age of approximately 16 years. The second sample used similar self-report data from 17,000 respondents to the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
In both groups, the study authors noted that “alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine use each showed significant and moderate dose-dependent associations with worsening of psychiatric symptoms, including suicidal ideation.”
Another important finding is that associations exist between multiple symptoms and multiple substances. “It’s not just cannabis, it’s not just alcohol, it’s not just nicotine,” says Tervo-Clemens. “Substances don’t seem to be involved.”
New feature: generational change
Compared to previous generations, today’s youth experience more mental health symptoms, but drug and alcohol use has decreased. In particular, binge drinking and smoking are decreasing rapidly, and a small proportion of young people are being affected.
These broad trends could support the idea that asking teens about drug use could be a way to screen for mental health problems, says Tervo-Clemens, Ph.D. Stated. It could be that the group of regular drug users is smaller than before and more closely connected to those who self-medicate or are dealing with mental health issues. It’s for a reason.