Quick screen to detect current substance use disorder in adolescents and the likelihood of future disorder

Abstract

AimsA brief screen requiring 3–4min administration time was developed to detect adolescents qualifying for current substance use disorder (SUD) and those who will subsequently manifest SUD by early adulthood. MethodsThe revised Drug Use Screening Inventory (DUSI-R; Tarter, 1990) was administered to 329 boys on three occasions (ages 12–14, 15–17 and 18–19years of age). Principal components analysis yielded a core set of items to form three age-specific versions of the DUSI-R Quick Screen (DQS), consisting of the Substance Involvement Index and Problems Severity Index. ResultsConstruct, concurrent and predictive validity of the DQS were in the good to excellent range. Sensitivity of the DQS at ages 12–14, 15–17 and 18–19 for detecting current SUD was 100%, 93% and 93%. The DQS at these ages predicted SUD by age 22 with 73%, 77% and 83% accuracy. Replication in another sample revealed sensitivity of 71% and 75% in 15–17 and 18–20year old males. ConclusionsThe true positive rate of detecting current and future SUD suggests that the DQS is an efficient screen for identifying youths requiring treatment or secondary prevention.