No abstract

One hundred eighty-eight drug-abusing and conduct-disordered adolescents and their parents provided retrospective reports of the youths' frequency of alcohol and illicit drug use for each of the 6 months preceding their initial session in an outpatient treatment program. Youths' and parent reports of youths' drug and alcohol use for each month were similar. For marijuana and alcohol, frequency reports were related for each month, whereas hard drug reports were related only for the 4 months preceding intake. Relationships among alcohol and hard drug reports were strong during Months 1, 2, and 4 preceding intake, whereas strength of relationship among marijuana reports was similar throughout the 6 months.

No abstract

The extent to which adolescent drug treatment outcome studies address ethnicity was systematically examined. Reliability coefficients were calculated for both the search methodology used to obtain these outcome studies and the extent to which ethnicity was addressed along several dimensions. The resulting coefficients were highly reliable. Findings indicated that although investigators of 94% of the outcome studies considered ethnicity to some extent, only 28% of these studies incorporated ethnicity into their design, and only 6% of studies involved statistical analyses to examine differential response to treatment or moderating effects of ethnicity with a sufficient number of ethnic minority participants. Overall, results indicated that there is much work to do regarding the examination of ethnicity in controlled treatment outcome studies involving adolescent substance abusers. Indeed, modifications were rarely made to the treatment components to accommodate ethnicity-related variables. Future recommendations are presented in light of these findings.

There has been recent pressure for practitioners to consider cultural variables when implementing evidence-based interventions. Therefore, the Semistructured Interview for Consideration of Ethnic Culture in Therapy Scale (SSICECTS) was empirically developed to address this issue. First, psychometric properties of a 6-item scale were evaluated in 279 individuals of various ethnicities. Results indicated two factors accounting for 71% of the variance (ethnic cultural importance and ethnic cultural problems). Internal consistency and convergent validity were satisfactory. Ethnic minority participants demonstrated significantly higher scores than did Caucasians, suggesting this scale may be particularly applicable in ethnic minority populations. In a second study, a controlled trial was conducted to examine clinical utility of the semistructured interview component in a subsample of 151 participants. Participant interviewees were queried about their basic demographic information and were subsequently instructed to evaluate the interviewers' performance. Interviewees were then randomly assigned to receive the SSICECTS or a parallel semistructured interview regarding exercise. After participants completed their respective semistructured interviews, they were again instructed to evaluate the interviewers. Results indicated both semistructured interviews enhanced evaluations. However, interviewers who administered the SSICECTS were perceived as having greater knowledge and respect of participants' ethnic culture.

As evidenced in the literature, there has been a recent interest in understanding drug and alcohol use in ethnic minority populations, particularly among adolescents. Although epidemiological and treatment outcome research involving substance use and abuse has improved among ethnic minority groups, this information has yet to be sufficiently integrated. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the extent of drug and alcohol use and related problems among ethnic minority youth, including patterns of use and treatment implications and recommendations.

No abstract

It is well established that adolescent substance abusers evidence severe behavioral and emotional problems (Waldron, 1997). Although some sources have reported stabilizing trends in the relatively high prevalence of adolescent substance use (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2003), the number of adolescents entering substance abuse treatment has increased in the past few years (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2003). Commensurate with the demand for adolescent dmg abuse treatment, there has been a trend in substance abuse providers and funding agencies to use empirically supported therapies (ESTs), derived primarily from studies in which randomized clinical trial methodology is implemented. In support of these initiatives, the National Institute on Dmg Abuse (NIDA; 1999) published a listing of scientifically based approaches that have been found to be effective in randomized clinical trials involving substance abusers, and the American Psychological Association (APA) Division A summarized, poster version of this chapter was presented at the 112th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association and the Minority Fellowship Program 1st Poster Session, both in Honolulu, HI, August 2004. Marilyn J. Strada wishes to thank the American Psychological Association Minority Fellowship Program, whose support indirectly funded the preparation of this article.