Prevalence of Substance Use and Risk Profiles in Adolescents Presenting to a Mental Health Clinic
Introduction: Recent research has examined motivational and personality factors in the development of substance misuse and abuse. The Substance Use Risk Profile Scale
(SURPS) has been developed to assess four dimensions of personality (introversionhopelessness, anxiety sensitivity, impulsivity, and sensation seeking) that are linked to different motivations for drug use and misuse (Butler-Woicik, Conrod, & Pihl, 2004).
This instrument has been validated with adolescents (Butler-Woicik et al., 2004) and is useful in understanding the processes involved in vulnerability to substance abuse and comorbidity between substance use disorders and other mental health disorders.
Conrod, Stewart and colleagues (2005) have developed a set of brief cognitivebehavioural interventions that were designed to intervene at the level of personality risk and associated motives for alcohol use in adolescents. In a randomized controlled trial,
Conrod et al. examined the preventative efficacy of these brief cognitive-behavioural interventions targeting different personality and motivational profiles (i.e., anxiety sensitivity, hopelessness, and sensation seeking) for alcohol abuse among youth. Conrod et al. demonstrated that these interventions had beneficial effects on drinking rates, drinking quantity, binge drinking, and problem drinking symptoms at 4-month follow-up in adolescents at risk for alcohol misuse. Thus, identifying personality and motivational risks for substance misuse and targeting them with a brief cognitive-behavioural intervention may also be helpful in preventing and/or treating substance misuse and abuse in adolescents with comorbid mental health problems.
Objectives/Hypotheses: Currently, there is no data on the prevalence of substance use in adolescents receiving treatment at the IWK Community Mental Health clinics (i.e.,
Halifax, Dartmouth, and Sackville Branches). Therefore, one objective of the current study is to obtain an estimate of the prevalence of substance use among adolescents receiving treatment at these clinics. Furthermore, the prevalence of substance use within the major diagnostic categories seen at the clinics (i.e., mood disorders, anxiety disorders, disruptive behaviour disorders) will be examined. The frequency of use (of a number of substances including alcohol and marijuana) and problem severity of use will also be assessed. It is hypothesized that a large percentage of these adolescents will be using substances and that many will be using alcohol and marijuana frequently. In addition, it is hypothesized that many of the adolescents will be engaging in problem use (as defined by problem severity on the Personal Experience Screening Questionnaire described below).
Another objective of the current study is to examine the relationships between the adolescents’ mental health diagnoses, personality and motivational risk profiles (as measured by the SURPS, TMMQ-R, and DMQ-R described below), and substance use.
It is hypothesized that the majority of adolescents in this study will have personality elevations in at least one of the four areas [introversion-hopelessness (I-H), anxiety sensitivity (AS), impulsivity (IM), and sensation seeking (SS)] and that these personality elevations will correspond with diagnoses. That is, I-H will correspond with mood

disorders, AS will correspond with anxiety disorders, and IM will correspond with disruptive behaviour disorders. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that these personality profiles will be associated with increased substance use and problem severity. More specifically, it is hypothesized that AS will be related to anxiolytic drug use, I-H to opiate drug use, IM to stimulant use, and SS to relatively uncomplicated alcohol misuse
(Conrod et al., 2000). Finally, it is hypothesized that personality profiles will correspond to particular motives for using both alcohol and marijuana. That is, AS will correspond with conformity motives, I-H with coping motives, SS with enhancement motives, and
IM will all motives (Comeau et al., 2001).