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The Drug Involvement Scale for Adolescents (DISA)
L L Eggert1, J R Herting, E A Thompson
1Psychosocial and Community Health Dept., University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7263, USA.
Journal of Drug Education
|January 1, 1996
Summary
Researchers developed the Drug Involvement Scale for Adolescents (DISA) to measure adolescent drug use multidimensionally. This brief scale effectively captures various aspects of drug involvement, aiding prevention and research efforts.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Adolescent Health
- Substance Abuse Research
Background:
- Adolescent drug involvement requires multidimensional measurement.
- Existing scales may not capture the complexity of adolescent substance use.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and validate the Drug Involvement Scale for Adolescents (DISA).
- To provide a brief, multidimensional measure of adolescent drug involvement.
Main Methods:
- Confirmatory Factor Analyses and traditional psychometric procedures.
- Data collected from 705 high-risk and typical high school students.
- Development and testing of a hierarchical model of drug involvement.
Main Results:
- The DISA demonstrated a good fit between its multidimensional model and the collected data.
- The scale showed strong internal consistency (alpha = .91).
- DISA scores correlated with known correlates, discriminated between risk groups, and predicted future outcomes.
Conclusions:
- The DISA is a valid and reliable tool for assessing multidimensional adolescent drug involvement.
- Its brevity and comprehensiveness make it suitable for etiologic and prevention studies.
- The scale offers a valuable approach to understanding adolescent substance use patterns.