Characteristics of abstinent substance abusers who first sought treatment in adolescence

A survey was given to 141 male and female substance abusers who had eleven or more months of continuous abstinence and first sought treatment in adolescence in an attempt to add to the limited knowledge of known variables associated with successful adolescent response to clinical and community-based treatment. Results were used to create a composite of successfully abstinent adolescents. Generally, parental alcoholism and most drug use patterns were not related to the number of relapses or length of sobriety. Most of the respondents entered twelve-step programs via treatment. The only two variables that were significantly correlated with the dependent measures of more relapses and less overall sobriety were getting high for the first time at a younger age and polydrug abuse. There were about five times more adoptees represented in this sample than would be statistically expected. Implications for adolescent substance abuse diagnosis and prognosis are discussed.