The purpose of this paper is to review the extant literature on the
effectiveness of SBIRT for adolescents. Although there are a variety of
definitions of adolescence (Council on Child and Adolescent Health,
1988; Canadian Paediatric Society, 2003; Society for Adolescent
Medicine, 1995; World Health Organization, 2011), the focus of our
review is on U.S. high-school-age adolescents, ages 14 through 17.
As there is a robust scientific literature supporting the effectiveness
of brief interventions for alcohol use among U.S. college students
(Carey, Scott-Sheldon, Carey, & DeMartini, 2007), the age range of the
traditional college student (e.g., 18–22) bridges the typical time
period from late adolescence to young adulthood, and the college
experience represents a unique social environment. We will not
include reference to the findings of studies conducted specifically
with college students in the United States. As compulsory education in
Great Britain ends at 16, there is substantial age overlap between their
further education college population and that of U.S. high school
students. Hence we have elected to include those studies from Great
Britain that fill all other inclusion criteria described below. This review
focuses solely on findings from randomized clinical trials (RCTs) to
examine what could be considered the best evidence from the most
rigorous research designs.