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

Abstract

Aims: A 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.

Methods: The 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.

Results: Construct, 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.

Conclusions: The 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.