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Emerging adulthood is the period of greatest risk for problematic substance use. The primary aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between a broad measure of child maltreatment and several key outcomes for a large clinical sample of emerging adults ( n = 858) and adolescents ( n = 2,697). The secondary aim was to examine the extent to which the relationship between child maltreatment and treatment outcomes differed between emerging adults and adolescents. Multilevel latent growth curve analyses revealed emerging adults and adolescents who experienced child maltreatment reported significantly greater reductions over time on several treatment outcomes (e.g., substance use, substance-related problems, and emotional problems). Overall, analyses did not support differential relationships between child maltreatment and changes over time in these substance use disorder treatment outcomes for emerging adults and adolescents. The one exception was that although emerging adults with child maltreatment did reduce their HIV risk over time, their improvements were not as great as were the improvements in HIV risk reported by adolescents who had experienced child maltreatment.

Recent reports describe alarming trends of adolescent drug use and a lack of treatment for substance use disorder symptoms. Early efforts in adolescent treatment relied on adult models that may not have considered the unique needs of adolescents. Recently, there has been an increased emphasis in developing intervention models designed specifically for adolescents. This article provides descriptions of current approaches to adolescent substance abuse treatment and summaries of research assessing the effectiveness of these models.