Ayahuasca in adolescence: a neuropsychological assessment

Earlier qualitative and ethnographic work has examined the ritual use of ayahuasca within Brazilian religious groups and raised questions about its psychosocial and cognitive consequences for adults and adolescents. Dobkin De Rios and colleagues note that understanding ayahuasca's effects in youth requires attention not only to neuropsychological performance but also to the sociocultural context in which sacramental use occurs, because religious structure, family involvement and community norms may shape outcomes. This study sets out to assess the effects of long-term, ceremonial ayahuasca use on adolescent cognitive functioning and social characteristics. Using a combination of neuropsychological testing (mentioned in the title) and qualitative methods, the investigators compared adolescents who are members of the União do Vegetal (UDV) church with school-based control peers, aiming to characterise differences in family life, social integration, moral/ethical reasoning and prior substance use within this legal religious context.

Data were collected retrospectively from 56 adolescent volunteers aged 15 to 19, recruited in three Brazilian cities (São Paulo, Campinas and Brasilia). The sample comprised 28 UDV adolescents and 28 school-based control adolescents from the same schools. The extracted text indicates the sample is a subset of a larger UDV adolescent database referenced elsewhere. The investigators used mixed methods. Ethnographic procedures included participant observation and field notes generated by de Rios and Alonza, interviews and focus groups. These qualitative data informed categorical coding and the development of moral/ethical vignettes intended to probe likely adolescent responses to conflictual situations. The authors describe presenting ethnological data in a correlative manner, examining interactions among multiple sociocultural variables rather than attributing outcomes to single causes. The quantitative side appears to consist of neuropsychological testing and structured questionnaires addressing chores, residence, family structure, quality of home life, relationships with parents, friends, future expectations, perceptions of society, religious affiliation, lifetime drug experience and sexual history. Controls were selected from the same schools as UDV teens. The extraction does not clearly report which specific neuropsychological tests were administered, the timing of assessments, or the statistical tests used to compare groups, and it notes that some tables allowed multiple responses per participant. The study design is retrospective and relies on self-report for many measures. The extracted text identifies the sample as drawn from urban, middle and upper-middle-class students and notes limited ethnic diversity.

Overall social and behavioural measures showed more similarities than differences between UDV adolescents and controls. Both groups were similar with respect to chores (no significant difference overall), place of residence, who raised them (all reported being raised either by both parents or by their mother), future expectations and most measures of prior substance use and sexual experience. Some differences were reported. UDV teens more often reported having at least one chore: six control adolescents indicated having no chores while no UDV teens did. Quality of home life favoured the UDV group: 27 UDV teens reported a positive home life compared to 22 controls. Reported closeness to fathers was higher in the UDV group (27 UDV teens versus 20 controls reporting a close relationship); eight controls described distant relationships with fathers compared with one UDV teen. Friendship networks diverged: UDV adolescents predominantly drew friends from church membership (only 11 UDV teens reported schoolmates as friends, versus 27 controls), and UDV teens were less likely to indicate a desire to travel (7 UDV versus 14 controls), which the authors interpret as greater social cohesion and local attachment. On measures of societal perception and values, UDV teens displayed greater optimism about violence and corruption in society. Moral and ethical vignettes yielded nuanced differences: both groups prioritised respect for others, but controls rated honesty more highly while UDV teens emphasised loyalty to family and friends. Vignette responses suggested similar tendencies to avoid confrontation in several scenarios; controls may have been somewhat more confrontational on one vignette. Both groups avoided clandestine premarital sex in another vignette. UDV teens were described as thrifty and responsible in the fifth vignette and realistic about family obligations in the sixth. The authors report that lifetime drug experience was comparable: 24 adolescents in each group reported no prior drug experiences, and only four in each group reported prior marijuana or alcohol use. Sexual experience was similar across groups: the extracted text indicates parity between groups in counts of virgins and non-virgins (for females, 12 reported virgins and 13 non-virgins in each group). The extracted text does not clearly present numerical results from neuropsychological tests, effect sizes, confidence intervals or formal statistical test results; nor does it report adverse events. The authors frame the vignette data as permitting honest self-reporting of maturity and likely behaviour.

The investigators interpret their findings as indicating that adolescents who participate in UDV ayahuasca ceremonies do not differ markedly from non-ayahuasca-using peers on most measured social, moral and behavioural dimensions, and in some respects the UDV group appears more socially integrated and responsible. Specifically, UDV teens were described as more likely to report a positive home life, closer paternal relationships, greater optimism about society, and a stronger orientation toward family loyalty and thrift. The authors link these patterns to the structured, elder-facilitated and socially sanctioned nature of UDV ritual practice. The paper situates these results within an ethnographic framework, emphasising that cultural context matters when assessing the consequences of plant hallucinogen use. The authors suggest that participation in a legal religious setting where ayahuasca is consumed sacramentally, usually with family present, appears not to be associated with negative psychosocial outcomes in this urban, middle-class adolescent sample. Key limitations are acknowledged: the study is a small pilot, retrospective and based largely on self-report. The sample was urban and drawn from middle and upper-middle-class students, limiting generalisability; ethnic diversity was not fully represented. The extracted text also lacks detail about specific neuropsychological measures and their results, and statistical reporting is not provided in the available extraction. The authors propose that these initial findings help to elucidate the range of effects of ritual ayahuasca use and indicate the need for further research, including presumably larger, more representative and prospective studies to examine cognitive and psychosocial outcomes more robustly.

In conclusion, the authors report few substantive differences between UDV adolescents who consume ayahuasca sacramentally and matched school-based controls. Where differences existed, UDV teens tended to appear more responsible, respectful and family-oriented, with closer paternal bonds and a more positive home life. No significant differences emerged in lifetime non-ceremonial drug use or sexual experience. The study is presented as evidence that socially sanctioned, ritualised ayahuasca use within a family and church context, as practised by these adolescents, is not associated with the negative social consequences often expected of youth drug use.