No abstract

Most studies assessing the burden of psychiatric disorders in juvenile correctional facilities have been based on small or male-only samples or have focused on a single disorder. Using electronic data routinely collected by the Texas juvenile correctional system and its contracted medical provider organization, we estimated the prevalence of selected psychiatric disorders among youths committed to Texas juvenile correctional facilities between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2008 (N = 11,603). Ninety-eight percent were diagnosed with at least one of the disorders. Highest estimated prevalence was for conduct disorder (83.2%), followed by any substance use disorder (75.6%), any bipolar disorder (19.4%), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (18.3%), and any depressive disorder (12.6%). The estimated prevalence of psychiatric disorders among these youths was exceptionally high and showed patterns by sex, race/ethnicity, and age that were both consistent and inconsistent with other juvenile justice samples.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a brief version of the Marijuana Effect Expectancy Questionnaire (MEEQ; Schafer & Brown, 1991). The original MEEQ was reduced to 6 items (MEEQ-B). Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed and two factors were identified (positive effects and negative effects) accounting for 52.3% of the variance. Internal consistencies (0.42 to 0.60) were slightly lower than those of the original MEEQ. The negative effect expectancy scale correlated with criterion variables that assess marijuana use (p ≤ .05). This measure is a helpful tool for clinicians to use when assessing youth expectancies. Replication across different samples of adjudicated youth is recommended. KeywordsAdolescent; incarcerated; marijuana effect expectancies More than half of high school seniors acknowledge using illicit substances, including marijuana, and approximately 25% admit to using drugs in the past 30 days (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2002). The number of youth starting to use marijuana at younger than 15 years old has grown in the last decade; this is significant because those adolescents who start using at 15 years or younger are 2.5 times more likely than those starting to use marijuana at 18 years or older to have symptoms of dependence in adulthood (Dennis et al., 2002). Marijuana use has increased despite its association with higher rates of mental disorders, health problems, and school problems among youth (Dennis et al., 2002 The risk of substance use disorders is also elevated among youth who commit crimes (McClelland, Elkington, Teplin, & Abram, 2004) and are detained (Braithwaite, Conerly, Robillard, Stephens, & Woodring, 2003). Many youth involved in the justice system have a substance use disorder ) and many more regularly use illicit substances, including high rates of marijuana use (95.7%; Lebeau-Craven et al., 2003). McClelland, Elkington et al. (2004) found that marijuana use disorder, alone and/or in addition to alcohol, was the most common substance use disorder among an adolescent detainee population.The subjective and behavioral effects of drugs are influenced by expectancies (Aarons, Brown, Stice, & Coe, 2001). Expectancy theory indicates that "through learning, the effects, consequences, and contexts of substance use act to motivate future substance use" (Brown, 1993, p. 56). There is considerable evidence that expectations for reinforcement from alcohol use are highly correlated with the commencement and continuation of drinking behavior (Brown, 1993;Katz, Fromme, & D'Amico, 2000). For example, adolescents who expect positive and arousing effects from alcohol use have been found to have earlier initiation of drinking behavior and drink more often and with less moderation than those youth who hold less evident expectancies (Aarons et al., 2001). Moreover, young adults are more likely to drink alcohol and use illicit drugs when they hold strong positive and weak negative expectancies for these behaviors (Aarons et al., 2001;Katz et al., 2000;Schafer...

No abstract