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Chemical Dependency in Students With and Without Learning Disabilities

Demetra D. Karacostas, EdD, is currently a school psychologist in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her interests include working with students with learning disabilities and examining the relationship between the social-emotional concerns of this population and substance use and abuse.

Gary L. Fisher

Gary L. Fisher, PhD, is an associate professor in the Counseling and Educational Psychology Department at the University of Nevada, Reno. His current research involves building resiliency in children with learning disabilities to prevent their involvement with alcohol and other drugs.

To determine if students with learning disabilities (LD) demonstrate a higher frequency of chemical dependency than students without learning disabilities (NLD), a total of 191 adolescents with LD (101 males and 90 females) were given the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI). The sample consisted of 88 students with LD and 103 NLD students between the ages of 12 and 18. The SASSI is an objectively scored self-report inventory that accurately classifies adolescents as chemically dependent (CD) or not chemically dependent (NCD). A significantly higher proportion of students with LD than NLD students were classified as CD. Of the 30 students who were classified as CD, 70% were students with LD. A discriminant analysis indicated that the presence or absence of a learning disability was a better predictor of classification as CD or NCD than gender, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, or family composition. The implications for evaluation and educational planning for students with learning disabilities are discussed.

Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 26, No. 7, 491-495 (1993)
DOI: 10.1177/002221949302600708


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