Identifying Co-Occurring Disorders in Juvenile Justice Populations

• Author: Todd W. Estroff,Ronald P. Anton,Ana M. Abrantes,Norman G. Hoffmann
• DOI: 10.1177/1541204004267781
• Published date: 01 October 2004
• Date: 01 October 2004
• Subject Matter: Articles

10.1177/1541204004267781Youth Violence and Juvenile JusticeAbrantes et al. / IDENTIFYING CO-OCCURRING DISORDERS

IDENTIFYING CO-OCCURRING DISORDERS

IN JUVENILE JUSTICE POPULATIONS

Ana M. Abrantes

Norman G. Hoffmann

Brown University

Ronald P. Anton

Day One for Youth and Families

Todd W. Estroff

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.

Keywords: adolescents; juvenile justice; PADDI; comorbidity; assessment

The number of adolescents involved in the criminal justice system continues to rise

(Granello & Hanna, 2003). For example, there was a 21% increase in the numberof

juvenile homicides from the 1980s to the 1990s (Snyder & Sickmund, 1999). In the year

2000, adolescent populations comprised 17% of all arrests in the United States (Snyder,

2002). Data from the Great Smoky Mountains Study (Farmer, Burns, Phillips, Angold, &

Costello, 2003), a longitudinal epidemiological study of mental health problems and

service use among youth, found that of the 1,420 youths (aged 9 to 13 years) sampled, 4.4%

entered the juvenile justice system at some point in their lives. Furthermore, of adolescents

(aged 14 to 16 years) involved in service use, 18% were in the juvenile justice system. In

addition to the high rates of adolescents involved in the legal system, there also exists a

significant economic cost to society, between $1.7 and $2.3 million over their lifetime,that

is associated with each adolescent high school dropout involved in delinquent and/or

substance abusing behaviors (Snyder & Sickmund, 1999). Also, the costs for incarcerating

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Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, Vol. 2 No. 4, October 2004 329-341

DOI: 10.1177/1541204004267781

© 2004 Sage Publications