The CRAFFT test is a valid means of screening adolescents for substance-related problems and disorders, which may be common in some general clinic populations.

To develop a brief alcohol and other drug (AOD) screening test for adolescents. Methods: A 9-item test was constructed by combining and modifying items from several AOD assessments, and administered concurrently with the Personal Involvement With Chemicals Scale (PICS), the criterion standard. Setting: A hospital-based adolescent clinic. Subjects: Fourteen-to 18-year-old patients consecutively arriving for routine medical care who were known to have used AOD. Measures: Internal consistency of the 9 items was calculated using the Cronbach ␣. The relationship between the brief screen and PICS raw score was determined by stepwise linear regression analysis. The PICS T score has been shown to correctly classify substance abuse treatment need as no treatment (TϽ35), brief office intervention (T = 35-40), outpatient or short-term treatment (T = 41-54), and inpatient or long-term treatment (TՆ55). Sensitivity and specificity rates for predicting a PICS T score of 55 or higher were calculated from 2 ϫ 2 tables. Results: Ninety-nine adolescents were tested (70.7% female, 36.4% black, 32.3% white, 19.2% Hispanic, mean age, 16.3 years). The 9 items had good internal consistency (Cronbach ␣ = .79). Stepwise linear regression analysis identified 6 items whose total combined score was highly correlated with PICS (Pearson r = 0.84, PϽ.01). This model correctly classified 86% of subjects according to the PICS criteria. Two or more yes answers had a sensitivity of 92.3% and specificity of 82.1% for intensive AOD treatment need. The 6 items were arranged into a mnemonic (CRAFFT). Conclusions: Further research must confirm the test's psychometric properties in a general clinic population. However, CRAFFT seems promising as a brief AOD screening test.

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In this study, depressive symptoms predicted sexual risk behavior in a national sample of male and female middle and high school students over a 1-year period.