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Alcohol and Substance Use Among Adolescents in Foster Care in Washington State

Results From The 1998-1999 Adolescent Foster Care Survey

Summary: This report shows that adolescents in foster care are more likely than adolescents living with their parents to be at high risk for substance abuse in some dimensions, including: their birth parents' substance abuse, their own age at first use, transitions and mobility, early occurrences of antisocial behavior, and personal attitudes favorable to drug use. When compared with youth living with their own parents, foster care adolescents are much more likely to have used almost any substance one can name at least once in their lives. The magnitude of the difference varies by substance: differences in alcohol and marijuana use are less pronounced than differences in other drugs. However, when use of substances during the year just before the interview is examined, a different pattern emerges. In "use of alcohol or any other drug" the two groups are almost identical. With some substances – notably alcohol, powder cocaine and other opiates – the foster care adolescents are actually a little less likely to use than the adolescents living with their own families.

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