Friday, 14 January 2005 - 12:00 PM

This presentation is part of: Poster Session I

Substance Use Among Poor and Typical Reading Adolescents: A Longitudinal Study

Background and Significance

There is a paucity of empirical data regarding whether poor reading during adolescence is a risk factor for the development of substance abuse problems. Research on substance use and youth with reading problems has yielded mixed results. Some studies have found that learning disabled youths have lower rates or comparable rates of substance use to youths who are not learning disabled (Blum et al., 2000; Katims et al., 1996; Molina & Pelham, 2001; Svetaz et al., 2001), whereas other studies found evidence of a relationship (Karcostas and Fisher, 1993; Beitchman et al., 2001).

Methods

Subjects. Fifteen-year-old students from 6 high schools participated in a screening of their level of reading skills. From the students who were screened, we recruited for a follow-up study two sets of youths – youths with reading problems (N=94) (those scoring below 45 on the Woodcock Johnson Revised- LWID) and youths who were normal readers (N=94) (scoring at or above 45 on the Woodcock Johnson Revised- LWID). Of those eligible youths (and families) contacted, 85% agreed to participate in the longitudinal study. Subjects declining to participate and those agreeing to participate did not differ in terms of gender or reading status (p>.10). Approximately half of the sample was recruited from households at the lower middle and lowest levels of socioeconomic status. As of 04/2004, nearly all subjects have participated in two follow up interviews and approximately half have participated in their third follow-up evaluation. Five youths (2.7%) have dropped out of the study since initial recruitment.

Assessments. Assessment of psychiatric disorder, including substance abuse disorder and substance abuse frequency and quantity within the last year (at baseline) and since last follow-ups (at subsequent interviews) were made with the semi-structured diagnostic interview, the Schedule for the Assessment of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia – Epidemiologic Childhood Version (K-SADS-E). Until the age of 18 or until adolescents were living independently, both the youths and their parents or adult informants were interviewed with the K-SADS.

Results Poor and typical readers used larger quantities and used alcohol and drugs more frequently as they got older. However, there were several trends suggestive of greater alcohol and substance use problems over time among the poor readers relative to the typical readers. In particular, based on results obtained with discrete time hazard models, it was estimated that a cumulative 19.4% of the sample of poor readers met criteria for alcohol or other substance use disorders over the follow-up, in contrast to 4.3% of adolescents with typical reading by the cut-off for current analyses.

Implications for Social Workers

Clearly, more research needs to be conducted in order to unequivocally posit that poor reading is a risk factor for increased substance use among adolescents; however, this ongoing longitudinal study suggests that poor reading may increase an adolescent’s vulnerability to developing substance abuse problems. Social Workers, especially school social workers, can use this information to improve their psychosocial assessment procedures. Specifically, paying close attention to the potentially higher risk poor readers have in developing psychosocial problems.

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