DSM-IV substance abuse and dependence: are there really two dimensions of substance use disorders in adolescents?

Aim. To examine the distinctness of the DSM-IV substance abuse and dependen ce constructs in a large, general adolescent population. Design. Data were collected using the 1995 Minnesota Student Survey. Survey items were design ed to correspond to DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for substance abuse and depe ndence. Settings. Public schools, alternative schools and area learning cen ters. Participants. Of the 78 800 students between the ages of 14 and 18 ye ars who completed the survey, 18 803 reported substance use and at least on e substance use disorder diagnostic criterion during the previous 12 months and were used for the analyses. The sample was divided randomly into two g roups in order to conduct data analyses on one group (n = 9490) and confirm the findings in the other group (n = 9313). Measurements. Confirmatory fac tor analyses were conducted to test three competing factor structure models consisting of a single factor model, a two-factor model of distinct dimens ions and a two-factor model with interrelated dimensions. Findings. The sin gle factor and correlated two-factor models had similar parameter estimates and fit the data better than the competing two-factor model with distinct dimensions. Findings were confirmed in a second sample. Conclusions. The st udy findings indicate that DSM-IV substance abuse and dependence criteria m ay be more optimally structured as a unidimensional construct rather than a s bidimensional constructs for adolescents.