Gender Differences in Victimization Severity and Outcomes Among Adolescents Treated for Substance Abuse

Abstract

This article uses data from the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN) on 214 adolescents entering substance abuse treatment. The goals of the article are to validate the General Victimization Index (GVI), examine its relationship to gender and co-occurring problems, and determine its relationship to outcomes. The GVI includes 15 items on lifetime traumatic events, traumagenic factors, and current worries of victimization. The items fall along a severity dimension (alpha = .88), and evidence was generated to support the construct validity of cutoff scores for interpretation. Girls were significantly more likely than boys to have experienced a variety of victimization incidents. When used as grouping variables, gender and severity of victimization significantly interacted with measures of intake status and were significant predictors of 3-month postdischarge treatment outcomes.

Experiences of victimization among adolescents with Substance Abuse Disorders in Sweden

“…These results agree with the results that have emerged in previous studies (13,20,28,(30)(31)(32). The prevalence of various types of exposure to violence is also generally high among the target group and varies from 11% to 45%.…”

“…Several studies have shown that the exposure of children and adolescents to violence or experiences of victimization has a significant correlation with drug abuse later in life (6,20). This group commonly initiates substance use earlier, uses multiple substances more frequently and at a higher rate (18,19), and develops substance-abuse-related problems more often (19).…”

“…A significant proportion of adolescents who enter substance abuse treatment have experienced victimization earlier in their lives (13,20,28,(30)(31)(32). Histories of multiple types of abuse are relatively common in this group, with between 40% and 90% of these patients having such backgrounds (5).…”

“…Histories of multiple types of abuse are relatively common in this group, with between 40% and 90% of these patients having such backgrounds (5). There seems to be a relationship between the severity of victimization and the seriousness of substance abuse; in other words, those who experience more severe forms and a higher frequency of victimization go on to use heavier drugs (13,20,26). It also seems that adolescents who have been exposed to more severe forms of abuse and violence are more likely to be found in inpatient care rather than outpatient care (13,30,31).…”

“…Girls in substance abuse treatment have been shown to have a history of multiple types of victimization to a significantly higher extent (39% to 68%) than boys (2% to 29%) (20,30,32). Other studies have shown that girls have more often experienced sexual abuse, whereas it is more common for boys to have experienced physical violence (13,32,33).…”