| This study examines the likelihood that chemically abusing/dependent adolescents in treatment who report moderate to severe emotional and physical abuse/neglect are at greater risk for traumatic grief than those with minimal emotional and physical abuse/neglect. One hundred adolescents participated in this study and were categorized into two treatment levels: an intensive outpatient and medically monitored intensive inpatient.;Participants were interviewed by Certified Chemical Dependency Counselors using the Adolescent Diagnostic Intake Assessment (ASAM). Participants were administered either the adolescent version of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI, Miller, 1990) or were determined by a physician or nurse practitioner to be chemically dependent. Histories of trauma associated with emotional and physical abuse/neglect were identified by Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ, Bernstein & Fink, 1998). Different types of loss associated with chemical abuse/dependence were identified by the Loss-Grief Inventory (L-GI, Beechem, Prewitt & Scholar, 1996). Traumatic and separation distress associated with traumatic grief was identified by the Inventory of Traumatic Grief (ITG, Prigerson, Kasl & Jacobs, 1999). In addition, the Attachment Object Relations Inventory (AORI, Buelow, McClain & McIntosh, 1996) and the Adolescent-Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences (A-COPE, Patterson, McCubbin, 1981) were used to measure both the internal and external dimensions of the self as well as other personal and social coping resources necessary to adjust to traumatic grief.;Results indicated that traumatic grief was associated with physical abuse in chemically abusing/dependent adolescents in treatment and that different types of losses representative of grief were associated with emotional neglect. |
