VALIDATION OF A QUESTIONNAIRE FOR DETECTI NG ADOLESCENTS WITH DRUG-ABUSE PROBLEMS

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the validity of a questionn aire aimed to detect adolescents with drug use problems. The Problem O riented Screening Instrument for Teenagers (POSIT) was designed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (1991) to timely detect teenagers wi th specific problems, mainly drug use/abuse. POSIT is an instrument co mprised of 139 items that evaluate 10 adolescent life functional areas that could be affected by the use of drugs: substance use/abuse, phys ical health status, mental health status, family relationships, peer r elations, educational status, vocational status, social skills, leisur e and recreation, aggressive behavior/delinquency. Two samples were co mpared in order to test the screening usefulness of the instrument to differentiate adolescents with and without problems: answers of 310 ad olescents currently in treatment for substance abuse in law enforcemen t and health facilities, and 1356 students 8 to 12 years of school com pleted were compared. The results showed that 81 items (58.3 %) of the original instrument that encompass 7 areas of the POSIT, function sat isfactory to detect Mexican adolescents with drug use problems: substa nce use/abuse, mental health status, family relationships, peer relati ons, educational status, vocational status, aggressive behavior/delinq uency. The subscale nine of ''vocational status'' was renamed as ''emp loyment status'' due to the items left in this area related to employm ent activities. On the other hand, there were 3 functional areas (phys ical health status, social skills, leisure and recreation) that could not be used to detect these adolescent problems in the Mexican sample due to the limited number of valid items available for this purpose an d, furthermore, there was no consistency among them as indicated by al pha values lower than.50. Further studies should test new culture spec ific items to evaluate these areas. The application of the 7 areas of the POSIT is suggested not only for those adolescents that might be us ing drugs but to all adolescents that could be detected in different c ontexts, such as schools and sport clubs, in order to identify possibl e problems on different areas of the adolescent life, related or not w ith drug use, to provide support on the phase that they area going thr ough: adolescence.