Interplay between personality and antisocial peer affiliation as prospective predictors of marijuana use and academic achievement in the transition into and out of college

Marijuana use has increased in recent cohorts and is associated with several negative outcomes, including poorer academic achievement. Less is known about how personality and peer factors in the first two years of college work together to predict problematic marijuana use and potentially co-occurring academic problems three years later. The longitudinal College Experiences Study (N = 209) was used to address this (N = 209, similar to 90% white, similar to 40% male); this study collected data from students in their first year of college, as well as similar to 1 year later (retention = 85%), and again similar to 4 years after the initial data collection (retention = 80%). Longitudinal data were analyzed via the traditional cross-lagged panel (CLPM) and the random-intercept CLPM approach. Results were consistent in that there was strong stability in problematic marijuana use, constraint, and antisocial peer affiliation across time, which were predominately influenced by stable, trait-like influences. These factors were also highly correlated but there was less evidence that one predicted the other over time. Nonetheless, greater constraint at Wave 1 was associated with significantly greater cumulative GPA in the transition out of college (beta s = 0.43-0.44). Results support the importance of early prevention and intervention of problematic marijuana use, as well as the possibility of using personality-targeted approaches in the first year of college to promote growth in behaviors related to constraint (e.g., staying organized, risk avoidant) in an effort to improve academic success and correlated substance use outcomes by the transition out of college.

Automated summary

The study found that marijuana use among college students is increasing, and is associated with personality and peer factors that may negatively impact academic performance. Results suggest the importance of early prevention and intervention of problematic marijuana use, as well as using personality-targeted approaches to promote behavior development that could improve academic success and substance use outcomes.