Alcohol use history differentiates adolescents treated in the emergency department after an alcohol-related incident.
OBJECTIVE
The current study compared 3 groups of adolescents identified in an emergency department (ED) following an alcohol-related event: (1) alcohol-positive adolescents scoring at or above the clinical cutoff on a measure of problematic drinking, the Adolescent Drinking Inventory (ADI) (n = 45); (2) alcohol-positive adolescents scoring below the clinical cutoff on the ADI (n = 68), and (3) alcohol-negative adolescents (n = 64). We examined whether these 3 groups of adolescents differed on measures of substance use as well as psychosocial factors.


METHODS
Participants were recruited as part of a larger clinical trial. Alcohol-positive adolescents were recruited from a level I regional trauma center for treatment related to an alcohol-related incident. Alcohol-negative adolescents were recruited from the ED and the community. The data reported here were from the baseline adolescent and parent assessments. Before completing assessments, adolescents were required to pass a brief mental status examination.


RESULTS
Adolescents in the alcohol-positive, high-ADI group reported significantly more substance use, peer substance use, and peer tolerance of substance use than adolescents in the alcohol-positive, low-ADI group followed by adolescents in the alcohol-negative group. Adolescents in the alcohol-positive, high-ADI group reported significantly less parental supervision than adolescents in the other 2 groups.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings underscore that alcohol-positive adolescents being treated in an ED are a heterogeneous group with respect to substance use as well as parent and peer risk factors. Physicians need to consider relevant background factors when making individualized discharge recommendations.
Fairlie
Anne M
AM
Department of Psychology, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA.
Chun
Thomas H
TH
Hernández
Lynn
L
Sindelar-Manning
Holly
H
Eaton
Cheryl A
CA
Lewander
William
W
Spirito
Anthony
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000628:therapy*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010351:Patient Discharge; D010379:Peer Group; D012307:Risk Factors; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy*