Citation

Abrantes AM, Hoffmann NG, Anton RP, Estroff TW. Youth Violence Juv. Justice 2004; 2(4): 329-341.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1541204004267781

PMID

unavailable

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.