NCJ Number
218593
Date Published
May 2007
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This report compares the characteristics of female with male adolescents admitted to substance-abuse treatment in 2005.
Abstract
There were approximately 44,600 female adolescents (31 percent) admitted to substance-abuse treatment in 2005. These adolescent females were less likely to report marijuana as their primary substance of abuse compared to male adolescents admitted to treatment (51 percent compared to 72 percent). Females were more likely than males to report alcohol (23 percent compared to 16 percent) or stimulants (12 percent compared with 4 percent) as their primary substance of abuse. Female admissions were more likely than male admissions to be White (60 percent compared with 53 percent), less likely to be Black (12 percent compared with 21 percent), and almost equally likely to be Hispanic (18 percent compared with 19 percent). Female adolescents entered treatment at younger ages than male adolescents for every primary substance of abuse. Female admissions were more likely than their male counterparts to have a co-occurring psychiatric and substance-abuse disorder (23 percent compared with 18 percent). Data for these comparisons were obtained from the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS). TEDS is an annual compilation of data on the demographic characteristics and substance abuse problems of persons admitted to substance-abuse treatment, primarily at facilities that receive some public funding. TEDS records show admissions rather than individuals, as a person may be admitted to treatment more than once during a single year. 3 figures and 1 table