Clinical Variations of Adolescent Substance Abuse: An Empirically Based Typology

This study was designed to establish and validate a multidimensional empirically based typology of clinically referred adolescent substance abusers. A total of 141 adolescent substance abusers, most of whom were male, African-American, and juvenile justice involved, comprised the study sample. Youth and their parents completed comprehensive assessments at intake to treatment, discharge, and at 6 months and 12 months post-discharge from treatment. Adolescents were classified based on individual and family risk factors, associated problems, and severity of substance use. Variables included in the 2-stage cluster analysis included adolescents’ substance use, psychiatric disorders, and legal involvement; peer substance use; family substance abuse; parental psychopathology; and family conflict. Three groups emerged: Juvenile Cynthia Rowe, PhD, is Research Assistant Professor; Howard Liddle, EdD, is Professor and Director; Gayle Dakof, is Research Assistant Professor, Center for Treatment Research on Adolescent Drug Abuse, University of Miami School of Medicine; and John Caruso, PhD, is Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Montana. Address correspondence to: Cynthia Rowe, CTRADA (R669); University of Miami School of Medicine; P.O. Box 019132; Miami, FL 33101 (E-mail: [email protected]. edu). Completion of this research was supported by grants from NIDA (Grant No. P50 DA07697, H. Liddle, PI; Grant No. R03 DA13657, C. Rowe, PI). The authors gratefully acknowledge Craig Henderson, PhD, Manuel Tejeda, PhD and Arlene Frank, PhD for their significant contributions to this manuscript. Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, Vol. 14(2) 2004 http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JCASA © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Digital Object Identifier: 10.1300/J029v14n02_02 19 Justice Involved Substance Abusers, with the lowest level of overall risk but highest juvenile justice involvement; Comorbid Substance Abusers, with the greatest family risk and individual psychopathology; and Heavy Substance Abusers, marked by serious substance abuse and peer substance use. Discriminant and predictive validity of the typology were established. This multidimensional typology of teenage substance abusers suggests that risk factors, associated problems, and substance use severity are all critical in assessing and treating this heterogeneous population. Different intervention strategies may be appropriate for these subgroups of adolescent substance abusers. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]