Social cognition and executive functioning in young male cannabis users

摘要

Early marihuana consumption impact on the development of complex cognitive abilities, that occurs during adolescence. However, studies about drug consumption and social reasoning are not conclusive. In the present study we analyzed the performance on social reasoning and executive functions tasks in 18 male adolescents who used cannabis (age: 18.94, SD = 3.4). Their executions were compared with the ones of the group of non-consumers (age: 19.22; SD = 2.5). Adolescents that used marihuana performed significantly lower than non-users on all social cognition subtests (judgment: p =.007, absurds: p =.001, causes: p =.034 and consequences: p =.01) and on three of the five executive functions tasks (card sorting test: p =.01, semantic classification: p =.03, metamemory: p =.047). Time of consumption (p =.008) and level of dependence (p =.004) negatively correlate with absurd recognition and semantic classification subtests. Cannabis consumption significantly affect the capacity to elaborate judgements, and to detect causes and consequences with a social content; time of marihuana consumption and the level of dependence show the bigger negative effect on social cognition abilities.