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American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published online on August 6, 2008
American Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/aje/kwn184
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American Journal of Epidemiology © The Author 2008. Published by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Original Contribution

Adolescent Cannabis Problems and Young Adult Depression: Male-Female Stratified Propensity Score Analyses

Valerie S. Harder1, Elizabeth A. Stuart1 and James C. Anthony2

1 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
2 Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, East Lansing, MI

Correspondence to Dr. Valerie Harder, 624 N. Broadway, Room 897, Baltimore, MD 21205 (e-mail: valharder{at}hotmail.com).

Received for publication December 28, 2007. Accepted for publication May 22, 2008.

Cannabis use and depression are two of the most prevalent conditions worldwide. Adolescent cannabis use is linked to depression in many studies, but the effects of adolescent cannabis involvement on young adult depression remain unclear and may differ for males versus females. In this cohort study of youth from a mid-Atlantic metropolitan area of the United States, repeated assessments from 1985 (at age 6 years) through 2002 (at age 21 years) were made for 1,494 individuals (55% female). Measured covariate differences between individuals with and without cannabis problems were controlled via propensity score techniques. The estimated risk of young adult depression for adolescents with cannabis problems was not significantly different from that for comparison adolescents for either females (odds ratio = 0.7, 95% confidence interval: 0.2, 2.3) or males (odds ratio = 1.7, 95% confidence interval: 0.8, 3.6). The evidence does not support a causal association linking adolescent-onset cannabis problems with young adult depression.

causal inference; comorbidity; mental disorders; sex factors; substance-related disorders

Abbreviations: CIDI, Composite International Diagnostic Interview; GBM, generalized boosted modeling; MLR, multivariable logistic regression


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