ATTAIN is a five-year research project designed to determine the efficacy of brief intervention for juvenile offenders with alcohol and other drug problems. Juvenile offenders demonstrate much higher rates of substance use problems than non-offenders. Juvenile offenders with substance use problems show higher rates of offending, more violent offenses, and more chronic substance use problems than juvenile offenders without substance use problems. Currently, little is known about the effectiveness of substance abuse treatment for juvenile offenders, however behavioral, family, and motivational interventions show the greatest promise in the few studies performed to date. The proposed study is a randomized clinical trial comparing the efficacy of Individual Guided Self-Change Treatment (GSC-I) with Family-Involved Guided Self-Change Treatment (GSC-F) for Hispanic/Latino and African-American juvenile offenders with alcohol problems. Participants (n = 704) will be randomly assigned to four treatment conditions: GSC-I, GSC-F, Choice, and Waiting List (WL). Choice participants will receive the treatment of their choice (i.e., GSC-I or GSC-F); WL participants will receive the treatment of their choice after an 8-week waiting period. Participants will be evaluated at pre-treatment, posttreatment, and one-month and six-month follow-ups. Primary hypotheses include: 1. adolescents assigned to active GSC treatment will demonstrate significantly greater reductions in alcohol and other drug involvement than adolescents assigned to WL; 2. adolescents assigned to GSC-F will have better outcomes than those assigned to GSC-I; 3. among Hispanic participants, acculturation factors will moderate treatment effectiveness; 4. among African-American participants, perceived discrimination and cultural mistrust will moderate treatment effectiveness. A secondary aim is to examine variables, representing significant subgroups of adolescents, that may predict differential treatment response (e.g., delinquency type, history of abuse, family cohesion and support). The ultimate aim of the proposed study is to develop more effective interventions for adolescents, and particularly minority juvenile offenders, with alcohol problems.
