Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention Advance Access originally published online on November 28, 2006
Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention 2007 7(1):34-39; doi:10.1093/brief-treatment/mhl017
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Determinants of Substance Abuse Among Incarcerated Adolescents: Implications for Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention
From the School of Social Work, University of Texas, Austin (Tripodi, Springer) and the School of Social Work, Portland State University (Corcoran)
Contact author: Stephen J. Tripodi, Doctoral Candidate, University of Texas at Austin, School of Social Work, 1 University Station D3500, Austin, TX 78712. E-mail: stripodi{at}mail.utexas.edu.
This study assessed the determinants of substance abuse among incarcerated youth. Because substance abuse is a predictor of incarceration and conduct disorder is known to increase the chances of youth abusing substances, the purpose of this study was to determine what seminal symptoms of conduct disorder seem to be the risk factors for substance abusers among incarcerated youth. Data were collected on 83 youth in southern Oregon, 74 males and 9 females. Logistic regression found the overall model containing 6 symptoms of conduct disorder to be significantly related to substance abuse (p < .001). When looking at the 6 symptoms individually, however, only running away from home was significantly related to substance abuse (p < .001). Incarcerated youth who reported running away from home were more than 9 times likely to abuse substances than incarcerated youth who did not report running away from home. This indicates the importance of conducting brief therapy for the prevention and intervention of youth running away from home. The article concludes with a discussion on the importance of assessments, treatment plans, and conducting the harm-reduction approach.
KEY WORDS: incarcerated adolescents, substance abuse, runaway, brief treatment