Effects of Adolescent Cannabis Use on Motivation and Depression: a Systematic Review

Purpose of ReviewThis article reviews recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies to elucidate whether adolescent cannabis use is related to reduced motivation and increased risk of depression.Recent FindingsRecent work suggests that heavy adolescent cannabis use predicts poorer educational outcomes, often presumed to reflect reduced academic motivation, as well as increased levels of depressive symptoms. However, evidence of a link between cannabis use and general motivation was lacking. Factors such as concurrent alcohol and tobacco use, trajectories of cannabis use during adolescence, and cannabis-related changes in underlying neurocircuitry may impact associations among cannabis use, motivation, and depression.SummaryHeavy adolescent cannabis use is associated with poorer educational outcomes and increased levels of depressive symptoms. The role of depression in how cannabis may affect motivation, broadly, is not yet clear, as most studies have not examined associations among all three constructs. Future work should explore possible overlap between cannabis effects on motivation and depression and clarify the temporality of these associations.