{"id":20851,"date":"2026-03-29T16:49:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T15:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=20851"},"modified":"2026-03-29T16:49:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T15:49:03","slug":"the-brain-remembers-the-hidden-cost-of-young-adult-substance-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2026\/03\/the-brain-remembers-the-hidden-cost-of-young-adult-substance-use\/","title":{"rendered":"The brain remembers: The hidden cost of young adult substance use"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"meta medium-3 columns medium-push-9\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<dl class=\"clearfix\">\n<dt><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Contact: <a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.umich.edu\/staff\/fernanda-pires\/\">Fernanda Pires<\/a>\u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0 March 23, 2026<\/span><\/dt>\n<dd class=\"social\"><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post medium-9 columns medium-pull-3\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"wp-block-michigan-news-callout alignright \"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Study:\u00a0<a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/08982643261431007\">Young Adult Substance Use as a Predictor of Poor Self-Rated Memory Decades Later in Midlife<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/aside>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Young adults who heavily use substances may report significantly poorer memory decades later, a new University of Michigan study suggests.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Researchers tracked how frequently participants reported binge drinking and daily\u2014or near-daily\u2014use of alcohol, cannabis and cigarettes between ages 18 and 30. They then compared those patterns with self-reported poor memory at ages 50 to 65.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">The study, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, was recently published in the Journal of Aging and Health.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">\u201cSubstance use has both acute and long-term effects on health and well-being,\u201d said\u00a0Megan Patrick, research professor at the Institute for Social Research and principal investigator of the Monitoring the Future Longitudinal Panel Study. \u201cPoor memory is a common sign of early dementia. We examined whether young adult substance use was associated with poor memory decades later in midlife.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Identifying behaviors that shape brain health across the lifespan is critical. This is among the first longitudinal studies to link cumulative young adult substance use to self-rated cognition in late midlife, Patrick said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Young adulthood is a critical period for brain development. The study shows that substance use patterns established during this period may have lasting consequences on memory and cognitive health much later in life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">\u201cData like what we have from the MTF Longitudinal Panel study enable us to see these associations across multiple decades of development in the individuals who participate,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cIdentifying the risk factors that can lead to dementia is crucial for the prevention and treatment of cognitive decline.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Triple threat and addiction<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">The results suggest different substances may be associated with later memory through different routes\u2014some through substance use disorder symptoms and others more directly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">For example, binge drinking and frequent cannabis use in young adulthood were not directly linked with reporting poor memory in later life. Instead, they increased the risk of developing substance use disorders for people in their 30s, and those disorders were linked to poorer memory later in life. This suggests that treating substance use in midlife could help protect brain health.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Cigarette smoking showed a different pattern. Daily smoking in young adulthood predicted poorer memory in early midlife, regardless of smoking habits at age 35. These findings highlight the need to prevent smoking early in life, Patrick said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">\u201cIt\u2019s important for people to understand the long-term connections between their behaviors and later health and well-being,\u201d she said. \u201cEven if someone thinks their current substance use may not be problematic because they don\u2019t see it as affecting their health right now, there are still potential longer-term consequences to consider. In this case, we are finding some evidence of potential negative impacts of heavy young adult substance use on their cognitive functioning more than 20 years later.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Prevention and intervention efforts targeting young adults could significantly benefit long-term brain health, Patrick said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">\u201cAs we saw, this study demonstrates potential long-term detrimental impacts of young adult heavy substance use on cognitive health later in life. It highlights the importance of early interventions,\u201d she said. \u201cUnderstanding these risk factors and their trajectory across the lifespan will inform strategies to support cognitive health.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">The study\u2019s authors also included Yuk Pang, Yvonne Terry-McElrath and Joy Bohyun Jang of U-M\u2019s Institute for Social Research.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Source: https:\/\/news.umich.edu\/the-brain-remembers-the-hidden-cost-of-young-adult-substance-use\/<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contact: Fernanda Pires\u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0 March 23, 2026 Study:\u00a0Young Adult Substance Use as a Predictor of Poor Self-Rated Memory Decades Later in Midlife\u00a0 Young adults who heavily use substances may report significantly poorer memory decades later, a new University of Michigan study suggests. Researchers tracked how frequently participants reported binge drinking and daily\u2014or near-daily\u2014use of alcohol, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,63,142,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-addiction","category-brain-and-behaviour","category-latest-news","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20851"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20854,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20851\/revisions\/20854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}