Work

Prevalence, Correlates, and Characteristics of Gasoline Inhalation among High-Risk Youth: Associations with Suicidal Ideation, Self-Medication, and Antisociality

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: Objective: Gasoline inhalation to achieve intoxication is a problem of global significance; however, few studies have examined the prevalence, correlates, and characteristics of gasoline abuse in adolescents. This study examined gasoline abuse in a sample of adolescents in residential treatment for delinquent conduct.Methods: Standardized psychosocial instruments were administered via a structured interview to 723 adolescents (97.7% of the study population).Results: More than one-in-five (21.9%) adolescents reported lifetime gasoline abuse. Gasoline users were disproportionately white, poor, and from rural areas. Gasoline abusers were more likely to have received a formal psychiatric diagnosis, evidenced greater current psychiatric distress and suicidal ideation, had higher levels of past trauma, were more likely to use inhalants for self-medication purposes, and exhibited more severe antisocial traits and behaviors than users of inhalants other than gasoline and inhalant non-users. In multivariate analyses, younger participants, boys, youth residing in small towns, and respondents with higher levels of suicidal ideation were significantly more likely to be lifetime gasoline abusers than their counterparts. Self-medication use of inhalants and frequency of delinquency in the year prior to treatment significantly predicted annual frequency of gasoline inhalation.Conclusion: Gasoline abuse was endemic in this sample of antisocial youth and associated with serious psychiatric comorbidities.

Source: Klinik Psikofarmakoloji Bülteni-Bulletin of Clinical Psychopharmacology

DOI: 10.5455/bcp.20110306021629

Authors: Eric L. Garland, Kristin Carter, Matthew O. Howard

Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Language: English

Topic: Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes

Subfield: Epidemiology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Funder: National Institute on Drug Abuse