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. 2020 Apr:103:106226.
doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.106226. Epub 2019 Dec 3.

Optimism and opioid misuse among justice-involved children

Micah E Johnson  1 , Linda B Cottler  2
Affiliations

Optimism and opioid misuse among justice-involved children

Micah E Johnson et al. Addict Behav. 2020 Apr.

Abstract

Aim: Adolescents in the criminal justice system, called justice-involved children (JIC), are particularly vulnerable in the modern opioid misuse (OM) epidemic. After release, relapse and overdose occur at higher rates than the general population. The current study assesses optimism and likelihood of P30D consumption of non-prescription or illicit opioids among JIC.

Methods: The study examines a sample of 79,960 JIC from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. Multivariate logistic regression was employed, controlling for gender, race, family income, age, history of mental problems, history of depression, and county of residence.

Results: JIC who reported very low optimism on the final screen had over 8 times the odds of meeting criteria for P30D OM compared to those with high optimism while adjusting for covariates.

Conclusions: Further research is needed to understand the potential for optimism to serve as a protective factor. Optimism can be developed, and therefore can possibly be incorporated to design novel interventions or integrated into empirically validated treatment programs to precipitate uptake.

Keywords: Adolescents; Hopelessness; Juvenile justice; Opioid misuse; Optimism.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interests

There are no known conflicts of interests to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The Odds Ratios of the Association between Optimism and P30D Opioid Misuse Controlling for Sociodemographic and Mental Health Factors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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