31% of Adolescent Marijuana Users Quit Within a Year, Driven by Disapproval and Negative Attitudes | Research

The takeaway

Among 566 adolescent marijuana users at continuation high schools, 31% quit within one year, with quitting predicted by being slightly older, receiving less peer approval for drugs, holding negative attitudes about drug use, and experiencing less victimization.

Read this if you work with at-risk youth and want to understand what motivates adolescent marijuana cessation.

31% of adolescent marijuana users quit within one year

What the researchers found

Researchers tracked 566 current marijuana users at continuation high schools (alternative schools for at-risk youth) over one year. Quitting was defined as not having used in the last 30 days and having no intention to use in the future.

Thirty-one percent of baseline users met this definition of quitting one year later, a substantial rate of self-initiated cessation. Four factors predicted quitting: being slightly older, receiving relatively less peer approval for drug use, holding relatively unfavorable personal attitudes about drug acceptability, and reporting less victimization in the past year.

The finding that social attitudes and peer approval were the strongest modifiable predictors suggested that prevention efforts focused on increasing the social unacceptability of marijuana use could support self-initiated quitting.

Why it matters

This was one of the first large studies of naturalistic marijuana cessation among adolescents. The 31% quit rate showed that adolescent marijuana use is not uniformly persistent, and the identification of modifiable predictors (peer attitudes, personal beliefs) provided targets for prevention programming.

The numbers in context

566 adolescent marijuana users. 31% quit within one year. Four significant predictors: older age, less peer approval, unfavorable drug attitudes, less victimization.

How the study worked

One-year prospective study of 566 current marijuana users at continuation high schools. Social, attitudinal, intrapersonal, violence-related, drug-use-related, and demographic baseline measures predicted cessation at one-year follow-up.

What this study cannot tell us

Self-reported quitting without biochemical verification. Continuation high school students are a specific at-risk population. The 30-day abstinence criterion may not reflect sustained cessation. Attrition between baseline and follow-up may bias results.

How to read the evidence

A large prospective study with multiple predictors analyzed. Good methodology but limited to continuation high school students and self-reported outcomes.

When this study was published

Published in 1999. Adolescent cannabis products and social attitudes have changed substantially, potentially affecting these dynamics.

The bigger picture

The finding that attitudes and peer approval predicted quitting more than individual characteristics supported social-influence approaches to adolescent drug prevention, which became the dominant model in school-based programs.

Questions still open

Does the 31% quit rate represent permanent cessation or temporary breaks? Would formal cessation programs improve on the naturalistic quit rate? Does reducing peer approval of drug use actually cause quitting or does it just correlate?

Common questions

Do many teens quit marijuana on their own?

Yes. In this study, 31% of regular adolescent marijuana users quit within one year without formal treatment, often driven by changing social attitudes and personal beliefs about drug use.

What helped teens quit?

Receiving less peer approval for drug use and personally viewing drug use as unacceptable were the strongest modifiable factors predicting quitting.

Read the original research

One-year prospective prediction of marijuana use cessation among youth at continuation high schools.

Addictive behaviors, 24(3), 411-7

View on PubMed ↗

Citation

Sussman, S; Dent, C W. (1999). One-year prospective prediction of marijuana use cessation among youth at continuation high schools.. Addictive behaviors, 24(3), 411-7.