Prevalence of DSM-IV Alcohol Diagnoses and Symptoms in Adolescent Community and Clinical Samples

Gender differences in the prevalence of DSM-IV alcohol use disorders in adolescents

“…The most prevalent symptom of AA was social problems, while the most prevalent symptom of AD was tolerance, these results being similar to those obtained in previous research from U.S. (Chung, Martin, Armstrong, & Labouvie, 2002;Harford, et al, 2005;Rose, Lee, Selya, & Dierker, 2012). These findings are not surprising if we consider that excessive alcohol use by adolescents and young people usually implies severe consequences in their social environment.…”

“…Many adolescents report marked increases to produce the same effect but are relatively light drinkers, often showing no other symptoms; some level of tolerance may occur as a normative developmental phenomenon in youth who drink (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2004). Thus, symptom-level examination points to tolerance as a potentially problematic symptom when applied to adolescents (Chung, et al, 2002). Similarly, "drink larger/longer", a criterion extensively endorsed in the present study, is often assigned as a result of adolescents' poor judgment, inexperience with the effects of alcohol or social pressure to drink, rather than as a compulsive pattern of alcohol use (Chung & Martin, 2005).…”

“…If we eliminate tolerance criteria, the prevalence of AD in our study would be reduced to 2.8% for the total sample and 3.3% for students who had drunk alcohol in the last year (data not shown in the results section). The high prevalence of this criterion reported in adolescent samples may indicate that the onset of tolerance during adolescence is a normal developmental phenomenon rather than a pathological process, which does not clearly distinguish adolescents with and without alcohol-related problems (Chung, et al, 2002;Chung, Martin, Winters, & Langenbucher, 2001;Martin & Winters, 1998). Additionally, young adults, whose alcohol use tends to be concentrated in episodes of heavy drinking, may be reporting tolerance with high frequency because of a tendency attributable in part to the wording of structured interview schedules, which can lead to the confusion of binge drinking and its sequelae with more classical physical symptoms of AD (Caetano & Babor, 2006).…”

“…Even so, the use of selfreports is considered a valid and reliable method for collecting data on drug use in adolescents (Brener, Billy, & Grady, 2003). Finally, because the DSM-IV substance use disorder framework was developed on the basis of the manifestation of substance disorders in adults, its applicability to adolescents has not yet been ascertained, and epidemiological application of DSM criteria may be problematic for this population (Chung & Martin, 2005;Chung, et al, 2002;Deas, Riggs, Langenbucher, Goldman, & Brown, 2000;Harrison, Fulkerson, & Beebe, 1998;Slade, Teesson, Mewton, Memedovic, & Krueger, 2012).…”

Understanding the service needs of assault-injured, drug-using youth presenting for care in an urban emergency department

“…[47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54] Demographics-Patient characteristics were collected using measures from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and the NIH Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study of Adolescents (DATOS-A). 52,[55][56][57] Substance Use-Past six-month substance use and binge drinking, 58 were assessed using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and the NIDA-ASSIST. [43][44][45][46] Other illicit drugs (excluding marijuana) were defined as including cocaine, methamphetamine, inhalants, hallucinogens, or street opioids.…”