NCJ Number
218268
Journal
Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Dated: 2006 Pages: 31-49
Date Published
2006
Length
19 pages
Annotation
Qualitative data from 923 adolescents treated in outpatient and residential settings for drug and alcohol abuse were used to categorize their reasons for starting, continuing, and quitting the use of drugs and alcohol.
Abstract
Findings showed an overall pattern of progression from social reasons for drug/alcohol consumption to more individual reasons for continuing. As a group, half of the adolescents reported initial use in response to social pressures; however, this source of motivation became less important by the time they became regular users. A similar progression was observed for the Coping-with-Difficulty dimension, which was not an important reason for starting but became an important reason for continuing. Adolescents who reported quitting substance use most often did so in response to negative experiences, self-appraisals, and anticipated futures. A perceived conflict between being a substance user and embracing other positively valued identities or becoming the person one had hoped to be was an important contributor to motivation for change. Very few adolescents mentioned treatment as a reason for quitting (only 8 percent). A similar result was observed in a recent study of former drug and alcohol users in the general adult population, where only 3 percent of respondents reported quitting alcohol or marijuana as a result of participation in treatment or upon a doctor's advice. Understanding the connections between perceptions, thoughts, and beliefs (cognitions) and course of use and recovery could possibly contribute to cognitive-behavioral methods used in prevention, treatment, and aftercare. The creation and testing of the taxonomy was achieved in two phases with 30-month post-intake data from individuals who participated in either outpatient or residential treatment as adolescents. 4 tables and 36 references