NCJ Number
212536
Date Published
September 2005
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This report compares admissions to substance abuse treatment facilities in rural counties with admissions to such facilities in urban counties according to data from the 2003 Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), an annual compilation of data on annual admissions to publicly funded substance abuse treatment facilities.
Abstract
TEDS records indicate where people entered treatment, not their area of residence. Data were collected to show the levels of urbanization of all U.S. counties compared with counties having treatment facilities that reported their admissions to TEDS. In 2003, 115,000 admissions (6 percent of TEDS admissions) were reported to facilities located in rural counties. Rural admissions were more likely than urban admissions to involve alcohol as the primary substance of abuse (52 percent compared to 40 percent). Rural admissions were more likely than urban admissions to be referred to treatment by the criminal justice system (47 percent compared with 35 percent). Rural admissions were younger, on average, than urban admissions (32 compared to 34 years old); and rural admissions were more likely to be White than urban admissions. Also, rural admissions were more likely than urban admissions to report no use of the primary substance of abuse in the past month (38 percent compared to 24 percent). Slightly more than half of rural admissions were entering treatment for the first time compared to 43 percent of urban admissions. 3 figures and 6 notes