Psychosocial functioning and psychiatric comorbidity among substance-abusing Icelandic adolescents

Our objectives were to compare behaviour problem scores (BPS) for Icelandic adolescents admitted for detoxification treatment for alcohol and narcotic abuse as compared with the general population, in accordance with the Yout h Self Report (YSR), and to describe psychosocial functioning and psychiatr ic comorbidity for the treated adolescents. The case series consisted of 10 3 adolescents, ages 12-18 years, who completed the YSR at the end of a 10-d ay stay at the National Hospital of Addiction Medicine. The total BPS talli ed from the YSR items was compared with scores for the general population. The psychiatric comorbidity and psychosocial functioning of the case series were assessed through diagnostic interviews in accordance with DSM-IV and ICD-IO criteria. The BPS for the 36 treated girls was significantly higher than for the general population (104 versus 36) and higher than for the 56 treated boys (82 versus 56) with 2 standard deviations above the norm for t he population. Three-quarters of the adolescents had psychiatric comorbidit y: conduct disorder (44%), depression (28%), or posttraumatic stress disord er (11%). The findings support the discriminative validity of the YSR as pa rt of a structured global assessment of substance-abusing adolescents, in p articular to identify the frequently present psychiatric comorbidities.