Prediction of DISC substance abuse and dependency for ethnically diverse adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
This study examines the validity of selected items from the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory-Adolescent (SASSI-A) version in predicting Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC version 2.3) Substance abuse and dependency (SA/D) for Native Hawaiian (i.e., indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands) and non-Hawaiian adolescents (youth without any Native Hawaiian indigenous ancestry).


METHODS
542 students were randomly selected from the larger sample to participate in the DISC administration. Demographic information, SASSI-A scores, and DISC diagnoses were obtained for each student. Univariate and multiple logistic regressions were performed in the prediction of DISC SA/D.


RESULTS
SASSI-A Factor 1, consisting of three items measuring substance use, was found to have the best utility, accounting for 18.1% of the variance, in predicting DISC SA/D.


CONCLUSIONS
These results support selected SASSI-A items in screening for SA/D for Native Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian adolescents in Hawaii as compared to other community-based screening instruments for other populations.
Nishimura
S T
ST
Department of Psychiatry, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu 96813, USA. nishimuras@dop.hawaii.edu
Hishinuma
E S
ES
Miyamoto
R H
RH
Goebert
D A
DA
Johnson
R C
RC
Yuen
N Y
NY
Andrade
N N
NN
D000293:Adolescent; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006254:Hawaii; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*