The portrayal
of adolescent substance use treatment as a brief clinical encounter that either works (complete and enduring abstinence following treatment) or does not work (any drug use following treatment) is inconsistent with the actual phenomenon of adolescent addiction and recovery.
Substance use disorders emerged in middle adolescence and increased in frequency through the middle 20s, becoming by far the most common psychiatric problems reported by the study participants.26, 27 We have already shown that early conduct problems predicted the
onset of adolescent substance use disorders in this sample, 28,29 and it is not surprising that this is the aspect of behavioral problems that showed the intervention effect in young adulthood.
While such findings may stir therapeutic pessimism about the treatment
of adolescent substance use disorders, we believe these findings instead confirm the need for different types and levels of care within the rubric of adolescent treatment.
Measures included the Youth Self - Report of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), as well as the Form 90 interview, which was the primary measure of quantity -
frequency of adolescent substance use, yielding the total percent days, in the last 90, of all alcohol and drug use.
This study compares expert
understanding of adolescent substance use with that of practitioners and the public, and offers strategic guidance for how communicators can help these constituencies better grasp what science has to say about how youth substance use affects development and what can be done to protect young people from substance misuse.
As for the
future of adolescent substance use treatment, Drs. Chung & Black describe a need to focus on the «active ingredients» of therapies and their respective «targets.»
Parents may also play a role, as many previous research studies have found that parental R - rated movie restriction is associated with lower
rates of adolescent substance use [57]--[61], presumably as a result of decreased exposure.
Most
studies of adolescent substance use and psychological comorbidity have examined the contributions of conduct problems and depressive symptoms measured only at particular points - in - time.
Our Science Advisory Board is made up of leading researchers in the
field of adolescent substance use and plays a vital role in the ongoing planning and development of our content.