title: Adolescent substance use assessment: concordance between tools using self-administered and interview formats.
abstract: The present study evaluates the agreement between adolescent self-report of substance use frequencies obtained from a self-administered questionnaire vs. face-to-face interview formats. Participants were 108 adolescents (82 males, 26 females), aged 11 to 19 (M = 15.74, SD = 1.17), who were referred for a chemical dependence assessment between June of 1999 and June of 2000 in Minnesota. The adolescent battery included the self-administered Personal Experience Inventory and the face-to-face interviewer-administered Drug Use History Interview to assess substance use frequency. A urine sample was also collected to validate self-report of recent substance use. Bivariate correlations between adolescent self-report on the self-administered and interviewer-administered formats were strong for alcohol (average r = 0.72) and marijuana (average r = 0.81) use frequencies during the 3 months and 12 months preceding the baseline assessment. However, adolescents were generally more likely to report greater frequencies of alcohol and marijuana use during the interview-administered protocol when compared to the self-administered format. Study implications and limitations are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 North Broadway, Hampton House, 8th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. astone@jhsph.edu
authors.forename: Andrea L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Stone
authors.forename: William W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Latimer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D012650:Self Disclosure; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires