The present study intends to evaluate the social skills of adolescent marijuana users comparing their performance with non users. The instruments were: Inventory of Social Skills - IHS; Cognitive Screening of the WISC-III and the WAIS-III and Inventories of Anxiety and Depression of Beck. The sample consisted of 98 adolescents, 49 marijuana users and 49 non users, aged between 15 and 22. The results showed higher impairments in the group of marijuana users at the cognitive screening and in the presence of symptoms of anxiety and depression. The findings indicate significant statistical differences in the group of users, with a more impaired performance in Factor 4, Self-exposition to strangers or to new situations and Factor 5, Self-control of aggressiveness in aversive situations. The study concluded that adolescent marijuana users present more impairment in the social skills than adolescent non marijuana users.
Social skills; adolescents; marijuana
