Adolescent Alcohol and Marijuana Use: Concordance Among Objective-, Self-, and Collateral-Reports

SUMMARY

The association of and difference between urinalysis, self- and parent collateral-report of alcohol and substance use at baseline, 3- and 9-month follow-up was assessed for 88 male and female adolescents from a treatment study. While urinalyses rates were higher than self and collateral-report, urinalyses and self-report did not differ significantly at follow-up. Associations between urinalyses and self-report were highest (r = .64, .69), followed by youth-/collateral report (.49, .55), and urinalyses/collateral-report (.28, .43). Change in youth subjective substance use was associated with collateral subjective perceptions of use at follow-up. Higher false-negatives render collateral less reliable than self-report but necessary in the assessment process.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent
• substance abuse
• alcohol abuse
• assessment
• urinalysis
• treatment