The majority of adolescents who use alcohol or drugs do not seek
and are not enrolled in specialty treatment services (SAMHSA, 2010).
In fact, in 2009, approximately 1.8 million (7.2%) U.S. youths
between the ages of 12 and 17 were believed to need substance
abuse treatment, yet only approximately 150,000 of them actually
received it (SAMHSA, 2010). Although rates of substance use
disorders and treatment need have decreased somewhat among
youth over the last decade, there remains a large unmet need for
intervention services (SAMHSA, 2010). Thus, the traditional passive
service delivery model of waiting for patients to seek treatment is
not only inappropriate for early intervention efforts, but is also
inadequate in engaging out-of-treatment individuals in needed
services. Hence, effective approaches to identify alcohol and drug
use by adolescents before they experience a serious adverse
consequence or advance to more severe levels of alcohol and drug
use are needed.