Assessing alcohol-involved adolescents: Toward a developmentally-relevant diagnostic taxonomyJournal of Substance Use 24 November 2008
Although recent assessment and diagnostic advancements have been made to better reflect the developmental uniqueness of alcohol-involved adolescents, there remains lacking a comprehensive taxonomy to describe the diversity of this large and often at-risk population.
This paper presents a taxonomy comprising five typologies of adolescent drinkers based on a continuum of use severity. Each typology is described in terms of alcohol consumption variables, salient risk factors for alcohol problems, and problem symptoms.
We argue that the taxonomy provides a useful heuristic for clinicians conducting assessment or screening with alcohol-involved adolescents, and we offer conceptual improvements for making the DSM-IV Alcohol Use Disorder criteria more developmentally relevant to adolescents.
Implications for matching typologies to service levels are discussed.
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Request Reprnt E-Mail: hesselb@psychiatry.uchc.edu
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This paper presents a taxonomy comprising five typologies of adolescent drinkers based on a continuum of use severity. Each typology is described in terms of alcohol consumption variables, salient risk factors for alcohol problems, and problem symptoms.
We argue that the taxonomy provides a useful heuristic for clinicians conducting assessment or screening with alcohol-involved adolescents, and we offer conceptual improvements for making the DSM-IV Alcohol Use Disorder criteria more developmentally relevant to adolescents.
Implications for matching typologies to service levels are discussed.
Read Full Abstract
Request Reprnt E-Mail: hesselb@psychiatry.uchc.edu
__________________________________________________________
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