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Patterns of substance use in adolescents attending a mental health department

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Abstract

This study aimed to describe patterns of substance use in adolescents initiating mental health treatment and analyse factors associated with a high-risk pattern of substance use differentially by gender. Two hundred and thirty-seven 12- to 17-year-old new patients in an urban public mental health service were prospectively recruited and evaluated using semi-structured interviews and standardized questionnaires to obtain socio-demographic, psychopathological, family, school and substance use data. The most prevalent primary diagnoses among males were attention deficit disorder and conduct disorder, while among females they were eating disorders, affective and conduct disorders. Substance use disorder was diagnosed as follows: cannabis in 10.1% of the sample, alcohol in 3.4% and other drugs in 0.4%. A pattern of substance use with high risk of developing problems (at least regular use of alcohol or occasional use of cannabis or other illegal drugs) was found in 48.9% of the sample. After adjusting for age in the multivariate logistic regression, this pattern of risky use of drugs was found to be associated with Youth Self-Report scales of thought problems, delinquent and aggressive behaviour, in both genders. Altered family structure, having had to repeat a school grade and Youth Self-Report attention problems were only significantly associated with risky drug consumption in females. The high prevalence of risky and problematic substance use in adolescents entering mental health treatment warrants early systematic screening and specific preventive and therapeutic interventions, addressing mental health psychoeducation and motivation to avoid drugs, as well as differential associated risk factors for males and females.

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Acknowledgments

This study has been supported by a grant from the INIFD (National Drug Research and Training Institute) (Ref: INT/1525/2003) of the Spanish Governmental Delegation for the National Drug Plan.

Conflict of interest

The authors reported no biomedical financial interest or potential conflicts of interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology, Institute of Neurosciences, Hospital Clínic Universitari of Barcelona, Biomedical Research Center in Mental Health Network CIBERSAM, C/Villarroel, 170, 08036, Barcelona, Spain

    Rosa Díaz, Javier Goti, Rosa Calvo & Josefina Castro-Fornieles

  2. Cancer Prevention and Control Unit, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, Spain

    Montse García

  3. Alcohol Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Neurosciences, Hospital Clinic Universitari of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Antoni Gual

  4. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology, Institute of Neurosciences, Hospital Clínic Universitari of Barcelona, C/Villarroel, 170, 08036, Barcelona, Spain

    Lourdes Serrano & Laura González

  5. IDIBAPS (Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi Sunyer), Barcelona, Spain

    Josefina Castro-Fornieles

  6. Health Sciences Division, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Josefina Castro-Fornieles

Authors
  1. Rosa Díaz
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  2. Javier Goti
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  3. Montse García
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  4. Antoni Gual
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  5. Lourdes Serrano
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  6. Laura González
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  7. Rosa Calvo
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  8. Josefina Castro-Fornieles
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rosa Díaz.

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Díaz, R., Goti, J., García, M. et al. Patterns of substance use in adolescents attending a mental health department. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 20, 279–289 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-011-0173-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-011-0173-5

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