NCJ Number
172292
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 24 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1997) Pages: 114-128
Date Published
1997
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The effectiveness of the adolescent version of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI-A) was examined through its use in classifying 317 adolescent offenders on a dual diagnosis inpatient unit at a State psychiatric hospital in Texas.
Abstract
The participants included 242 male juvenile offenders, and 75 female juvenile offenders. Professional staff on the adolescent unit consecutively sampled clinical records from 1991 to 1993, a period when the SASSI-A was routinely administered to each adolescent. Although the sample was limited in its number of nonusers of alcohol or other drugs, the SASSI-A had an unacceptably high number of false positives (68.4 percent), but it was moderately effective at classifying nonadmitting alcohol and drug users (75.6 percent). In addition, as an indication of criterion-related validity, elevations on the SASSI-A scales had low to moderate correlations with interview-based data related to drug abuse. However, ethnicity appeared to affect its scales significantly, even when the level of impairment was a covariate. Findings indicated that the SASSI-A should not be used to classify adolescents as chemically dependent and has a circumscribed role in screening for suspected drug abuse. Tables, notes, and 28 references (Author abstract modified)