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Quick Tests of Organicity Among Drug-Using Delinquents

San Diego County Mental Health Services

Margaret R. Bentley

Kansas City, Missouri

Psychologists are often asked to determine whether a given delinquent is or is not a heavy drug user. In order to sharpen the validity of this judgment, eight neuropsychological tests were selected on the basis of ten criteria, including brevity and palatability. Neuropsychological tests were selected because previous findings had suggested that heavy drug use might be associated with organic brain pathology. The measures chosen were administered to 102 male legal offenders aged 12-17. Controls were provided for 1Q, previous head injury, and response bias. To form the criterion of drug usage level, a series of four criteria was employed to divide the boys into 68 heavy users and 34 light users. Maximally discriminating cutoffs, for each of the dependent-variable tests, for each age and ethnicity subgroup, yielded significant differentiation for seven of the eight tests involved. A composite "drug index" correctly identified 74% of the subjects, and when the most discriminating tests for each age and ethnicity group were selected, instances of false positives were reduced to 4%. Future research and clinical applications were discussed.

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