NCJ Number
136586
Journal
Journal of Adolescent Research Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1990) Pages: 82-95
Date Published
1990
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article describes the effectiveness of two brief, family-oriented, outpatient drug interventions for 84 adolescents who had used and abused drugs.
Abstract
The 16 females and 68 males had an average age of 16 years and were assigned randomly to one of the two treatment groups: Purdue Brief Family Therapy (PBFT) and Training in Parenting Skills (TIPS). PBFT combined the most effective elements of structural, strategic, functional, and behavioral family therapy, while TIPS was a didactic educational program. The study used individual, dyadic, and entire family measurements to assess family functioning and the youths' behavior. The adolescents' drug abuse was measured by several methods. Results revealed that together, the interventions appeared to significantly reduce the drug use of nearly half the youths, possibly because they focused on systematically treating entire family groups rather than just the adolescents. However, the family therapy appears to have been effective in reducing drug use for a greater percentage of the adolescents than did the family education intervention. Figure, table, and 30 references (Author abstract modified)