TY - JOUR
T1 - Crack and cocaine use among adolescents in psychiatric treatment
T2 - Associations with hiv risk
AU - Tolou-Shams, Marina
AU - Feldstein Ewing, Sarah W.
AU - Tarantino, Nicholas
AU - Brown, Larry K.
N1 - Funding Information:
Research supported by NIMH grant MH-50416 and the Lifespan/Tufts/Brown Center for AIDS Research.
PY - 2010/4
Y1 - 2010/4
N2 - Crack and cocaine use among adults has been associated with co-occurring psychiatric disorders as well as other drug use and unprotected sex. However, this issue is relatively unstudied in adolescents. This study collected data from 282 adolescents (mean age=14.9 years) treated in intensive psychiatric treatment settings to understand the relationship between crack/cocaine use and HIV risk. Thirteen percent of youths reported ever using crack or cocaine. Use was not associated with age, gender, race/ethnicity, or SES. After controlling for known factors that influence unprotected sex, the odds that those with a history of crack/cocaine use engaged in inconsistent condom use was six times greater than that for those youths who did not ever use. Thus, crack/cocaine use is prevalent even among younger adolescents with psychiatric disorders who are not in drug treatment. Its use is associated with high rates of sexual and other risk behaviors. A history of use should alert clinicians to a wide variety of possible behavioral risks. These results can also inform future adolescent HIV prevention intervention development.
AB - Crack and cocaine use among adults has been associated with co-occurring psychiatric disorders as well as other drug use and unprotected sex. However, this issue is relatively unstudied in adolescents. This study collected data from 282 adolescents (mean age=14.9 years) treated in intensive psychiatric treatment settings to understand the relationship between crack/cocaine use and HIV risk. Thirteen percent of youths reported ever using crack or cocaine. Use was not associated with age, gender, race/ethnicity, or SES. After controlling for known factors that influence unprotected sex, the odds that those with a history of crack/cocaine use engaged in inconsistent condom use was six times greater than that for those youths who did not ever use. Thus, crack/cocaine use is prevalent even among younger adolescents with psychiatric disorders who are not in drug treatment. Its use is associated with high rates of sexual and other risk behaviors. A history of use should alert clinicians to a wide variety of possible behavioral risks. These results can also inform future adolescent HIV prevention intervention development.
KW - Adolescent
KW - Cocaine
KW - Crack
KW - Hiv
KW - Psychopathology
KW - Sexual risk behavior
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U2 - 10.1080/10678281003634926
DO - 10.1080/10678281003634926
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77951282492
SN - 1067-828X
VL - 19
SP - 122
EP - 134
JO - Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse
JF - Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse
IS - 2
ER -