Adolescent Substance Abuse (PDF)

Stay up-to-date in the continuing fight to assess and treat adolescent drug and alcohol abuse Adolescent Substance Abuse: New Frontiers in Assessment presents up-to-date research on the assessment, intervention, and treatment of alcohol and drug use behaviors in adolescents, using screening tools developed to accurately measure the extent and nature of the problem. This unique book provides evidence of how the field has matured over the past 20 years, highlighting the rapid growth in research with a focus on topics deserving of more study. Leading experts working in adolescent health and assessment examine treatment-oriented typologies, treatment matching, problem identification and referral, parent-report, self-report, and the compatibility of anonymous and confidential surveys. Recent advancements in the development and evaluation of research materials have led to vast improvements in the study of adolescent drug abuse. Counselors can now depend on user-friendly features and rigorous psychometric evidence in determining the important differences between adolescent and adult drug use; distinguishing between normative and severe-end drug use behaviors; detecting “faking bad,” “faking good,” and other sources of compromised self-reports; and developing a greater understanding of substance abuse disorders. Still, challenges remain—the validity of adolescent self-report tools is vital; there is a need for more precise identification of related psychosocial problems, and there is a lack of data of whether current assessment tools can identify distinct levels of a problem's severity. Adolescent Substance Abuse works to meet those challenges. Adolescent Substance Abuse examines:

• how assessment can be used to identify treatment-oriented typologies to improve treatment matching
• how to use community readiness for drug abuse prevention
• how to use the psychometric data of a screening tool for problem identification urinalysis, parent report and self-report in working with American Indian youth
• parent-child concordance in assessment of substance use
• anonymous versus confidential survey formats in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the United States
• gender differences in measuring substance abuse
• and much more

Adolescent Substance Abuse is an essential professional resource for counselors and researchers working in the field of adolescent health, particularly drug abuse.