ABSTRACT
Studies of youths entering the juvenile justice system, particularly those involving urine testing or hair analysis have found their rates of drug use to be consistently higher than national population survey rates for youths. This chapter replicates and expands previous research that has been completed on this topic involving arrested youths processed at the Hillsborough County Juvenile Assessment Center who entered a home-based intervention project. Using data from self-reports, urinalysis, and hair testing, analyses are directed toward answering the following research questions: what rates of drug use are indicated by self-reports, urinalysis, and hair testing? what are the concordance rates between urinalysis, hair testing, and self-reported recency of drug use? what longitudinal relationships exist between the youths’ drug use? Following a discussion of the findings of the analyses, their research and service delivery implications are drawn.
