Predictors of Readiness to Change Young Adult Drug Use in Community Health Settings

Abstract

This study evaluated readiness to change drug use in young adult patients aged 18–25 years who were provided screening and brief intervention as part of a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Treatment Capacity Expansion Project. Non-treatment-seeking young adults at risk for drug problems (n = 1,560) were assessed for readiness to change. Structural equation modeling examined latent constructs: emotional distress, age, drug use severity, criminal behavior, gender, and race/ethnicity. Drug use severity fully mediated the relationship between emotional distress and readiness. In addition, females and young adults with more severe drug problems may be more amenable to behavior change.

Keywords :

• structural equation modeling
• brief intervention
• young adults
• drug use
• readiness to change
• non-treatment seeking

THE AUTHORS

Ebon Alley, Ph.D., is a social worker in the U.S. Air Force. He currently serves as the mental health flight commander and director of psychological health at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas. His research interests include the prevention and treatment of substance related disorders in young adults.

Tiffany Ryan, M.S.W., is a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas at Austin's School of Social Work. Her research interests are child and family welfare and services as they relate to homelessness, emerging adulthood, social program planning and analysis, policy analysis, and community organizing.

Kirk von Sternberg, Ph.D., is associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin and associate director of the Health Behavior Research and Training Institute. He has substantial experience in designing and implementing large clinical trials to test interventions based on the transtheoretical model and motivational interviewing with at-risk populations in special settings. He has been an investigator and responsible for study design and data analysis on multiple NIH and CDC funded intervention trials addressing risk of alcohol-exposed pregnancies, alcohol and safer sexual practices in HIV-positive men, screening for sexually transmitted infections in at-risk adolescent women, group treatment for cocaine, and screening and brief interventions for alcohol and drugs in medical settings.