Cannabis use and psychotic‐like experiences trajectories during early adolescence: the coevolution and potential mediators

Abstract

Background:The authors sought to model the different trajectories of psychotic-like experiences (PLE) during adolescence and to examine whether the longitudinal relationship between cannabis use and PLE is mediated by changes in cognitive development and/or change in anxiety or depression symptoms. Methods: A total of 2,566 youths were assessed every year for 4-years (from 13-to 16-years of age) on clinical, substance use and cognitive development outcomes. Latent class growth models identified three trajectories of PLE: low decreasing (83.9%), high decreasing (7.9%), and moderate increasing class (8.2%). We conducted logistic regressions to investigate whether baseline levels and growth in cannabis use were associated with PLE trajectory membership. Then, we examined the effects of potential mediators (growth in cognition and anxiety/depression) on the relationship between growth in cannabis use and PLE trajectory. Results: A steeper growth in cannabis use from 13-to 16-years was associated with a higher likelihood of being assigned to the moderate increasing trajectory of PLE [odds ratio, 2.59; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.11-6.03], when controlling for cumulative cigarette use. Growth in depression symptoms, not anxiety or change in cognitive functioning, mediated the relationship between growth in cannabis use and the PLE moderate increasing group (indirect effect: 0.07; 95% CI, 0.03-0.11). Conclusions: Depression symptoms partially mediated the longitudinal link between cannabis use and PLE in adolescents, suggesting that there may be a preventative effect to be gained from targeting depression symptoms, in addition to attempting to prevent cannabis use in youth presenting increasing psychotic experiences.

Annual Research Review: On the developmental neuropsychology of substance use disorders

“…(, ) twice showed that a subset of young adolescents reporting moderate psychotic‐like experiences showed a particular sensitivity to the effects of cannabis use on escalation of psychotic‐like experiences. These findings have been replicated in two subsequent studies (Bourque et al., ; Wigman et al., ). These and other similar cohort studies have also identified childhood negative life events (e.g.…”

Terminology and assessment tools of psychosis: A systematic narrative review

“…‘Psychotic‐like experiences’ (PLE) were recognized among the general population, but also as risk factors, predictors, or early symptoms for psychosis . They were often less severe than symptoms of psychotic disorders and transient . They were sometimes described as present in both groups with or without psychotic disorders .…”

“…4 Other definitions include 'delusions and perceptual abnormalities that exist along a phenotypic continuum with psychotic disorders lying on the extreme end' 20 and 'subthreshold expressions of the extended psychosis phenotype'. 38 symptoms of psychotic disorders 44,53 and transient. 7,48,54 They were sometimes described as present in both groups with or without psychotic disorders.…”

“…mild hallucinatory experiences) and delusional thoughts that fall well below DSM-5 diagnostic criteria of psychosis', and also listed as 'hallucinations, delusional beliefs, suspiciousness, strange experiences, and feelings of grandiosity'. 53 An article defined PLE as 'qualitatively similar to the symptomatology of psychotic disorders but quantitatively less severe in terms of intensity, frequency, and impairment', and used the term interchangeably with 'subclinical psychotic experiences'. 44 A study which examined youths at risk of developing psychotic disorders defined PLE as 'attenuated psychotic symptoms below the threshold of frank psychosis'.…”

Experiencias psicóticas atenuadas y consumo de cannabis en adolescentes de la población general

“…Concretamente, el uso de cannabis aumentaba el riesgo de psicopatología comórbida y esta, a su vez, la frecuencia de experiencias psicóticas. Estudios previos realizados en jóvenes de la población general llegan a conclusiones similares (Bourque, Afzali, O'Leary-Barrett y Conrod, 2017). Por ejemplo, Bourque et al, (2017), en un estudio longitudinal con adolescentes, encontraron que los síntomas de depresión mediaron parcialmente el vínculo longitudinal entre el consumo de cannabis y las experiencias psicóticas.…”