Adolescent substance use: The development and validation of a measure of perceived individual and contextual factors

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to gather validity evidence for a South African developed instrument designed to measure individual and contextual factors associated with adolescent substance use in low socio-economic status communities in the Western Cape, South Africa. Studies report high rates of substance use in these communities. This possibly points towards the impact of typical post-apartheid contextual factors on the development of adolescent substance use. The South African Substance Use Contextual Risk Questionnaire (SASUCRQ) measures adolescents’ subjective experiences of their own psycho-social and their communities’ functioning.