Reliability and Discriminant Validity of the Children's Drug-Use Survey

The Children's Drug Use Survey assesses involvement with alcohol, marijuana, inhalants, and “pills” and includes experimental psycho-social items. It is short, easy to read, and is constructed so that it does not encourage drug use. Data are presented showing that the drug-use items have high reliability and discriminant validity. The scales should be useful for studying drug involvement in both minority and nonminority youth and possess adequate reliability for use as low as the fourth grade.