Identifying Co-Occurring Disorders in Juvenile Justice Populations

Abstract

A structured diagnostic interview (Practical Adolescent Dual Diagnostic Interview, or PADDI) designed to gather basic information about substance use disorders, other mental health conditions, and related experiences was administered to 284 adolescents in several juvenile justice settings. PADDI data were analyzed to assess the ability of the questions to identify mental health and substance use problems and to provide a preliminary exploration of interrelationships between those conditions. Results indicated that PADDI subscales possess adequate to excellent internal consistency reliability, with coefficients ranging from .624 to more than .900. A vast majority of delinquent adolescents manifested indications of multiple problems. Although there were high correlations among some conditions with respect to severity, conduct disorder and substance dependence did not correlate highly on measurements of severity. Furthermore, although most conditions displayed bimodal distributions, conduct disorder displayed a continuous distribution of symptoms. Utility of the instrument for routine clinical use is also discussed.

Patterns of behavioral health conditions among adolescents in a juvenile justice system.

“…However, these prevalence rates are just slightly higher than the 38% seen for the males and actually lower than the 69% seen for females without a substance dependence syndrome. This is compatible with previous findings that the prevalence and severity of substance dependence has one of the lower correlations with the other conditions (Abrantes, Hoffmann, Anton, & Estroff, 2004). In other words, substance dependence is less associated with these conditions than the associations among the emotional and behavioral conditions.…”

Posttraumatic stress, panic disorder, violence, and recidivism among local jail detainees

“…An examination of PTSD prevalence found 24.5 percent met criteria for a DSM-III-R PTSD diagnosis, which was dramatically higher than the zero-prevalence observed within the community sample serving as the comparison group in the study (Ulzen and Hamilton, 2003). These rates are fairly consistent with other work demonstrating 19-39 percent of criminal justice-involved samples appeared to meet criteria for PTSD (Abrantes et al, 2004;Blodgett et al, 2015). Based on this evidence, it is reasonable to expect that about one in five persons entering either adult or adolescent detention centers has indications of PTSD.…”

A Comparison of DSM-IV Versus DSM-5 Substance Use Disorder Diagnoses in Adolescent Populations

“…The current sample consists of 388 adolescents (126 males, 262 females) in addiction programs and 516 adolescents (445 males and 71 females) evaluated in juvenile detention centers or juvenile drug courts. Previous studies have detailed the procedures and populations from which the sample was drawn (Abrantes, Hoffmann, Anton, & Estroff, 2004;Drerup, Croysdale, & Hoffmann, 2008;Hoffmann, Bride, MacMasters, Abrantes, & Estroff, 2004).…”