Study shows teens unlikely to admit illegal substance abuse, even before drug test

By Staff Writer

New research by Wayne State University and Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit shows that teens may deny drug use, even in the face of an impending positive drug test.

A study of more than 400 high-risk urban teens and parents found that even adolescents who knew a hair analysis test would be positive for cocaine would not admit to it voluntarily beforehand, according to Virginia Delaney-Black, head researcher, Med Page Today reports. Less than 1 percent of those tested said they used cocaine; however, the drug showed up in the hair samples of 34 percent of the teens, Delaney-Black wrote in the journal Pediatrics.

Opiate use showed the same disconnect between self-report and test results.

Simply asking teens or their parents about illicit drug use - even when given a "certificate of confidentiality" as done in the current study - might not be enough to identify at-risk youth, the researchers cautioned. Since teen drug use estimates are usually drawn from anonymous reports, this dishonesty can also disrupt determining how effective intervention and prevention programs are, they added.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that mental health problems, including depression, developmental lags, apathy, withdrawal and other psychosocial dysfunctions, are frequently linked to substance abuse among adolescents.