The Role of Participant Motivation in the Outcome of a Prevention/Early Intervention Program for Adolescent Substance Use Problems and Illegal Behavior

Abstract

ABSTRACT The primary purpose of this study was to determine, for a court-adjudicated adolescent male sample (N = 160) mandated to a residential program setting, the degree to which their expressed motivation for getting help with their alcohol, illicit drug and illegal behavior problems was found to predict to the outcome of an early intervention treatment program. Results. Those subjects who had reported relatively more severe alcohol and drug problems at admission expressed a significantly greater degree of being “troubled” by having such problems, and that it was significantly more “important to get help and counseling” for these problems. However, no significant relationship was found between the degree of the illegal behavior problems and the degree of being “troubled” by having the problems, or the degree that it was considered important to obtain help for such problems. It is proposed that a possible explanation for this lack of concern regarding having committed serious illegal behavior is the lack of opportunities that was available to these subjects and the influence of the poor neighborhoods in which they grew up. Those subject-participants who rated at admission that it was relatively more important to obtain “help and counseling” for their alcohol problem also tended to report relatively less alcohol problems at follow-up assessment. However, some of the subject-participants who rated that it was relatively more important to obtain help for alcohol problems also were found to report later a relatively greater degree of drug use at follow-up assessment. Thus, it appears that some of the earlier alcohol use was being exchanged for an increase in the degree of marijuana use. It is concluded that the ratings on motivation at admission, by this subject sample, are to some degree meaningful, but can also be misleading, and that the implications of these motivation ratings are quite complicated.