Daly, Michael (2013) Personality may explain the association between cannabis use and neuropsychological impairment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110 (11). E979-E979. ISSN 0027-8424

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Abstract

In a recent issue of PNAS, Meier et al. (1) used a prospective cohort of 1,037 New Zealanders followed from birth to age 38 y to show that the relationship between cannabis use and cognitive impairment cannot be attributed to precannabis-use differences in intelligence. However, important omitted “third” variables, such as stable individual differences in personality traits, could potentially cause both drug use and changes in intelligence. For instance, a negative relationship between cannabis use and neuropsychological performance may be explained by low conscientiousness, which could lead to substance dependence (2) and poor performance on neuropsychological tests (2, 3). Personality traits could also explain positive noncausal associations between cannabis use and cognitive functioning. For example, high levels of openness to experience could lead people to seek out activities that promote cognitive functioning and could also condition the initiation of cannabis use (4). It is, therefore, critical to consider whether personality traits may confound the cannabis–intelligence link.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Personality; association; cannabis use; neuropsychological impairment;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Psychology
Item ID:	15578
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1218571110
Depositing User:	Michael Daly
Date Deposited:	24 Feb 2022 16:09
Journal or Publication Title:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Publisher:	National Academy of Sciences
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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