title: Demographic effects on the Trail Making Test in marijuana abusers.
abstract: Demographic effects on the Trail Making Test (TMT), a test often used for screening for cognitive impairment, were examined in a sample of marijuana abusers in drug abuse treatment programs. A sample was drawn from electronic files of data from the Drug Abuse Treatment outcome Study (DATOS). The DATOS was a naturalistic, prospective cohort study that collected data from 1991-1993 in 96 programs in 11 cities in the United States. The number of marijuana abusers' scores available for analysis were 259. Data were analyzed to determine the effects of sex, ethnicity, age, and education variables on the two parts of the TMT in this large treatment sample of marijuana abusers. The variables of age and education level were statistically significantly related to TMT parts A and B, and ethnicity was statistically significant for part B of the TMT. R-Square values for overall models were moderate (A = .15, B = .18) suggesting that demographic effects on the TMT are weak.
authors.affiliation: Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockwall II Building, Suite 840, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, USA. ahorton@samhsa.gov
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Horton
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roberts
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002189:Marijuana Abuse / Q000150:complications*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014145:Trail Making Test; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology