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Rationale Long-term heavy cannabis use can result in memory impairment. Adolescent users may be especially vulnerable to the adverse neurocognitive effects of cannabis. Objectives and methods In a crosssectional and prospective neuropsychological study of 181 adolescents aged 16-20 (mean 18.3 years), we compared performance indices from one of the most widely used measures of learning and memory-the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test-between cannabis users (n=52; mean 2.4 years of use, 14 days/month, median abstinence 20.3 h), alcohol users (n=67) and non-user controls (n=62) matched for age, education and premorbid intellectual ability (assessed prospectively), and alcohol consumption for cannabis and alcohol users. Results Cannabis users performed significantly worse than alcohol users and non-users on all performance indices. They recalled significantly fewer words overall (p

Considerable research has been devoted to examining the relations between self-esteem and social support. However, the exact nature and direction of these relations are not well understood. Measures of self-esteem, and social support quantity and quality were administered to 961 adolescents across five yearly time points (M(age) = 13.41 years). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to test between a self-esteem antecedent model (self-esteem precedes changes in social support), self-esteem consequence model (social support precedes change in self-esteem), and a reciprocal influence model. Self-esteem reliably predicted increasing levels of social support quality and network size across time. In contrast, the consequence model was not supported. The implications of this for helping adolescents to develop higher quality social support structures are discussed.

Although both right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) have been found to predict racial and intergroup prejudice, previous research has suggested that RWA and SDO have quite distinct psychological features. We therefore examined the Big Five personality correlates of these two measures using facet scales from the International Personality Item Pool measure. Respondents were 220 university undergraduate volunteers. Signi®cant sex differences were noted with respect to SDO and some facet scales. A series of analyses supported the view that RWA and SDO are aligned with different personality traits, while the discussion centred on the psychological pro®le of authoritarians and dominators.