Report: U Of M Survey Finds Link Between Marijuana Use And Lower GPAs
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Researchers behind a large survey, involving more than 10,000 Minnesota college students, found a link between marijuana use and lower grades.
The Star Tribune reported on the survey, which was conducted by Boynton Health, the student health service at the University of Minnesota. Researchers conducted the study after noticing a sharp increase in students using marijuana in recent years.
The results showed that the mean grade-point averages (GPAs) of students dropped significantly with marijuana use, even for students who didn't think that marijuana affected their academic performance.
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For men, those who hadn't used pot in the last year had a mean GPA of 3.33. For their counterparts who used pot daily, the mean GPA was 3.01. Additionally, GPA appeared to drop with the level of reported marijuana use.
For women, there was a similar drop. Those who hadn't smoked in the last year had a 3.4 GPA average while those who used daily had a 3.18 mean GPA.
Still, researchers stress that the survey doesn't show causation, only that there's a significant association between heavy marijuana use and lower grades, the newspaper reports.
While binge drinking is also associated with lower graders, its link is not as pronounced as that of marijuana.
The Boynton survey used data from students at the University of Minnesota and 17 other schools in Minnesota.
