Critical issues in adolescent substance use assessment

Despite advances in methodology and instrumentation, the assessment of adol escent drug and alcohol involvement remains a complex clinical and practica l process. It requires the careful and skillful implementation of procedure s across a wide range of service systems and providers. While the literatur e identifies and provides information on singular aspects of the assessment of adolescents, few sources furnish an integrated overview of the key issu es necessary for appropriate and accountable assessment. Consequently, this paper synthesizes theoretical, research, and clinical issues into a practi cal framework that can be used by clinical and research staff making assess ment decisions. Issues discussed have been informed by the literature and b y our collective experience during the 8-year development and testing of th e Comprehensive Adolescent Severity Inventory (CASI). (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.