Efficacy of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory--3 (SASSI--3) in Identifying Substance Dependence Disorders in Clinical Settings

Abstract

This article presents analyses on psychometric properties of a recent revision of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI-3). Participants were 772 individuals from a range of clinical settings who were independently diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev. [DSM-III-R]; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1987) or DSM-IV (APA, 1994) criteria regarding the presence or absence of a substance-dependence disorder. A development sample (n = 391) was used to formulate SASSI-3 decision rules that yielded 95% agreement with clinical diagnoses of substance dependence. Correspondence with the criterion variable was shown to be 97% in a cross-validation sample (n = 381) from the same clinical settings. Convergent relations were demonstrated with a variety of other indexes of substance misuse, including clinical assessments of substance abuse history, alcohol and drug-related arrests, self-reported use of illicit drugs, and other instruments designed to screen for substance misuse. Further, logistic regression analyses indicated no significant differences in the overall accuracy of the SASSI-3 as a function of respondents' demographic characteristics or clinical ratings of respondents' level of adjustment and functioning (Global Assessment of Functioning ratings; APA, 1987, 1994).

A Randomized Trial of a Multimodal Community-Based Prisoner Reentry Program Emphasizing Substance Abuse Treatment

“…Assessment of substance dependence was achieved through the use of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI) (Lazowski, Miller, Boye, & Miller, 1998;Miller & Lazowski, 1999). SASSI was the standard inventory used by the Department of Corrections to determine and forecast treatment needs of correctional populations.…”

Alcohol and anxiety: Subtle and obvious attributes of abuse in adults with social anxiety disorder and panic disorder

“…The Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory-3 [SASSI-3; Lazowski et al, 1998] contains subscales examining both subtle and obvious aspects of substance abuse, with not all items being face valid to help control for social desirability. In addition, the SASSI-3 includes a defensiveness subscale that aids in identifying those who are not willing to endorse problems and shortcomings.…”

Use of the Adolescent SASSI in a Juvenile Correctional Setting

“…On the other hand, Schwartz (1998), in collaboration with the SASSI Institute, found that the SASSI-2 effectively identifies substance abuse and prior criminal involvement. In addition, Lazowski, Miller, Boye, and Miller (1998) studied almost 2,000 participants and found sensitivity and specificity of .97 and .95, respectively.The SASSI-A (Miller, 1990) was designed for use with adolescents. Original validation (Miller, 1990) indicated promising results in the correct classification of substance-dependent adolescents (83%); however, the test was somewhat less successful in correctly classifying adolescents without substance abuse (72%) or those denying substance abuse (69%).…”

“…On the other hand, Schwartz (1998), in collaboration with the SASSI Institute, found that the SASSI-2 effectively identifies substance abuse and prior criminal involvement. In addition, Lazowski, Miller, Boye, and Miller (1998) studied almost 2,000 participants and found sensitivity and specificity of .97 and .95, respectively.…”

“…The SASSI-A2 was released in 2001; however, as yet, there are no peer-reviewed publications on the performance of this instrument. The purpose and overall structure of the SASSI-A2 are unchanged from the earlier version and are comparable to the three adult versions (Miller & Lazowski, 2001 (Lazowski et al, 1998). In comparing the SASSI-A and SASSI-A2, there have been no changes to FVA, FVOD retained all original items and 2 more have been added for a total of 16 items on the SASSI-A2, OAT retained 11 items of the original 20 and is now composed of only 11 items, SAT retained 6 of the original 10 items and is now composed of 12 items, and COR retained 5 of the original 16 items and now has 11 new items added to it for a total of 16 items on the new version.…”