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Cannabis, Adolescence and Identity: beyond the 'stoner'
Funded through a special initiatives of Grand Challenges in 2017/18.
3 October 2017
In the UK, 19% of 15-16 year olds have tried cannabis, and 8% have used it in the past year. 50% of users, globally, try cannabis before the age of 18. The number of under-18s accessing treatment for cannabis problems has risen over the last decade. The last two decades have seen a 'normalisation' of adolescent drug use, especially in regard to cannabis use.听Dr听Claire Mokrysz听and Dr Will Lawn听from Clinical Psychophamacology, UCL Clinical Educational & Health Psychology, worked with colleagues in UCL's Applied Health Research unit to听examine what London-based adolescents think about cannabis use, identity and the pros and cons of cannabis use.
The project also investigated longitudinal associations between cannabis-related identity and cannabis problems in teenagers.听
The project team continued a systematic literature review about cannabis, identity and adolescence. The existing literature focused on group identity - protection and vulnerability; positive and negative self-image and ethnic identity - protection. There was little qualitative work and little world that aimed to understand how cannabis contributed to identity in teenagers, or why cannabis might be important in their lives.听
Through two focus groups with adolescents (16-17 year olds), which raised some important preliminary findings and raised some policy recommendations.听
