Science Spotlight
March 18, 2016
 

New research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse revealed that of previously incarcerated youths, more than 90% of males and nearly 80% of females had a substance use disorder at some point in their lifetime. The longitudinal study randomly sampled 1,829 youth -- ages 10-18 years who entered detention in Cook County, Illinois from 1995-1998 -- and examined how lifetime and past-year prevalence of substance use disorders differed by sex, race/ethnicity and substances abused as the group grew to young adulthood. The participants were re-interviewed up to nine times over 16 years and were assessed for substance-use disorders involving alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogen/PCP, opiate, amphetamine, inhalant, sedative and other unspecified drugs.

The findings suggest that substance use disorders after detention differed significantly by sex, race/ethnicity, and substance abused.




Source: NIDA