Correlations of substance abuse and self-image among socially diverse groups of adolescents and clinical implications.

Two culturally diverse groups of male youths, ages 16-18, were compared with respect to self-image correlates of alcohol and drug use. Self-image was measured through use of the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire (OSIQ), a reliable, well-validated measure of adolescent self-image covering eleven separate areas of functioning. Alcohol and drug use were measured by means of the Delinquency Checklist (DCL), a self-report measure of delinquent behavior first developed by Short and Nye. The adolescents studied were culturally diverse: one group consisted of the entire junior class of an all-male, all-black Roman Catholic Parochial School located in an economically deprived urban neighborhood; the other group comprised a random sample of all the junior and senior boys in an almost all-white, upper-middle-class, suburban public high school. Results showed that in both groups drug use is associated with poor family relationships and impaired self-image. Selling drugs was more prevalent by self-report among the black, inner-city youths than it was among the white, suburban youths. Selling drugs was associated with poor impulse control, relatively low vocational and educational goals and poor coping skills. The research data is discussed in regards to its relevance to therapy of two culturally diverse groups of adolescents.