poster abstractBackground: There is a well-established relationship between conduct disorder and
substance use, particularly in detained youth. Attitudes toward substance use
predict alcohol and marijuana use; however, little research has investigated
attitudes as a mechanism between conduct disorder and substance use specifically
in detained youth. Methods: Ninety-three detained youth (Mean age=15; SD=1.346;
Female=15.1%) completed a court ordered psychological assessment, which
included the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory for Adolescents (SASSI-A)
and the Youth Self Report (YSR) to assess alcohol and drug use, attitudes towards
substance use, and conduct disorder symptomology. Results: Two mediation models
were run using Andrew Hayes’ PROCESS to test the effect of conduct disorder on
alcohol use and drug use (run in separate models) through attitudes towards
substance use, controlling for age and gender. Conduct disorder directly related to
positive attitudes toward substance use in the alcohol model (b=0.47, t(91)=4.45,
p<.001) and drug use model (b=0.30, t(91)=3.33, p=.001). Conduct disorder directly
related to alcohol use (b=0.32, t(89)=2.60, p=.02) and drug use (b=0.44, t(89)=3.04,
p=0.003). Attitudes toward substance use were associated with higher alcohol use scores,
(b=0.42, t(89)=3.99, p<.001) and drug use scores (b=0.27, t(89)=1.92, p=.06). The
relationship between conduct disorder and alcohol use was significantly mediated by
positive attitudes toward substance use (b=0.20, CI 0.04 to 0.42); however, the
relationship between conduct disorder and drug use as mediated by positive attitudes
towards substance use was non-significant (b=0.07, CI -0.003 to 0.24). Discussion: The
results support that one way in which conduct disorder increases risk for substance
use in detained youth is through increasing the likelihood of holding positive
attitudes towards substance use. Modifying positive alcohol attitudes might be a
prime point of intervention to avoid risks associated with substance use among
conduct disordered detained youth
