Differences in young adult psychopathology among drug abstainers, experimenters, and frequent users

Shedler and Block offered the provocative proposal that individuals who exp eriment with drugs are psychologically healthier than either those who abst ain completely or those who are frequent users. Not all studies have come t o such conclusions, however In an effort to specify under what conditions S hedler and Block's conclusions might hold the present study examined three groups of drug users (abstainers, experimenters, frequent users) classified according to three different criteria: (a) marijuana rise at age 20; (b) a lcohol use during 10th grade; and (c) alcohol use at age 20. The three grou ps were compared at age 20 in terms of personality, deviant behavior and ps ychopathology. The results revealed that abstainers were never more psychol ogically impaired, and were occasionally healthier than experimenters. Fueq uent users of marijuana were consistently more impaired than both the absta iners and experimenters, in terms of both internalizing and externalizing d isorders. Classification according to marijuana use appeared to be more rel ated to psychopathology than did classification according to alcohol use.