Course of functioning in adolescents 1 year after alcohol and other drug treatment

Clinical course was studied in 131 male and female adolescents with current alcohol use disorder (AUD) at baseline (BL). Participants were classified into 4 groups according to their diagnosis and drinking pattern I year late r. The 4 groups were compared with each other and with 37 community control participants. Results showed that over half of the clinical sample no long er had a current AUD at 1 year, about 64% were and 36% were not still drink ing. 131, discriminators of 1-year status were alcohol dependence, other dr ug use, and coping. All of the clinical groups tended to show improvement a t I year in the main dependent variables, and the abstainers' level of drug use and coping were comparable with that of the community participants. Th ese findings suggest that many adolescents improve in functioning during th e I year after alcohol and drug treatment and that a stress and coping mode l is useful for studying clinical course of AUDs in adolescents.