NCJ Number
222598
Date Published
March 2008
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This report presents data on adolescents (ages 12 to 17) admitted to substance abuse treatment in 2006 for the abuse of inhalants, which are substances whose vapors or gas can be sniffed or inhaled to produce mind-altering effects and whose chronic use may cause irreversible damage to the brain, kidneys, and lungs.
Abstract
Adolescents accounted for 8 percent of admissions to substance abuse treatment in 2006; however, they composed 48 percent of all admissions for inhalant abuse. Girls comprised a larger proportion of adolescent admissions who reported inhalant abuse than adolescent admissions that did not report inhalant abuse (41 percent compared with 30 percent). In 2006, 45 percent of adolescent admissions who reported inhalant abuse had a co-occurring psychiatric disorder. This contrasted with only 29 percent of adolescents admitted for treatment who did not report inhalant abuse. Whites accounted for 61 percent of adolescent admissions who reported inhalant abuse, but only 55 percent of adolescent admissions who did not report inhalant abuse. American Indians/Alaska Natives accounted for 11 percent of adolescent admissions who reported inhalant abuse, but only 3 percent of those who did not report inhalant abuse. This pattern was reversed for Blacks, in that only 4 percent of adolescents who reported inhalant abuse were Black, compared with 19 percent of those who did not report inhalant abuse. Data were obtained from the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), an annual compilation of data on the demographic characteristics and substance abuse problems of those admitted to substance abuse treatment, primarily at facilities that receive some public funding. 3 figures