The connection between maltreatment and adolescent drug abuse

Graduation date: 1992The purpose of this study was to compare the delinquent behavior, psychological\ud health, and emotional wellbeing of maltreated and nonmaltreated adolescents in a\ud chemical dependency treatment program. Data were collected over a seven year period\ud from intake interviews and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) scores\ud of 522 adolescent patients at a chemical dependency treatment program in a Northwest\ud city of about 100,000. The subjects consisted of 220 females and 302 males.\ud Maltreatment was selfreported by 43% of the females and 17% of the males. Results\ud indicated that maltreated, drugaddicted adolescents engaged in significantly more\ud delinquent behavior, including arrests and drugrelated arrests, suicide attempts,\ud runaway behavior and illicit drug use than nonmaltreated adolescents in the program.\ud Results of the MMPI scores revealed that maltreated adolescents scored significantly\ud higher than nonmaltreated adolescents on eight of the ten clinical scales, indicating that\ud maltreated adolescents entered the drug treatment program with higher levels of\ud psychological and emotional distress than did their peers. Analyses run separately for\ud males and females revealed that differences between maltreated and nonmaltreated\ud patients could be accounted for, in large part, by differences between maltreated and\ud nonmaltreated females. Maltreated females, but not males, scored significantly higher on\ud total drug use, and on the Hypochondriasis (Hs), Hysteria (Hy), Psychasthenia (Pt), and\ud Schizophrenia (Sc) scales of the MMPI. The unique needs of maltreated adolescents, in\ud particular maltreated females, in drug treatment programs are discussed