Study title

Substance use is highly prevalent among Chilean adolescents. There are no validated instruments to assess risk and protective factors for this population in Chile, which is essential for evaluating future prevention interventions. We are conducting a large study to assess the effectiveness of the culturally adapted Unplugged program in Chile (known as “Yo Sé Lo Que Quiero” ["I Know What I Want"]). In order to have robust results coming from this evaluation, we need to have a validated instrument, so we decided to use the same questionnaire as in Europe and Brazil, to be able to do future comparisons between countries. Therefore, the aims of this study were: (1) culturally adapt the EU-Dap questionnaire among early adolescents in Chile; (2) assess the validity of internal factor structure of the subscales contained in the questionnaire evaluating risk and protective factors; (3) assess the reliability of these subscales and (4) assess possible relationships between all risk and protective factors measured by the questionnaire and substance use.Substance use and drug related disorders are important public health problems. Alcohol and illicit drug use account for 5.4% of the total burden of disease and the peak has been found in early adulthood (between ages 20 and 30 years). Substance use is one of the leading problems among Chilean adolescents. One out of four 8th to 12th graders have smoked cigarettes in the last month. A 35.6% of students (37%, girls; 34.2%, boys) between Year 8 and Year 12 have reported any alcohol use during the last month. It is worrying that a third of 14 years old students report using alcohol in the last month in Chile. Furthermore, two out of three who are using alcohol, report regularly using 5 or more drinks in a row during the last month. Cannabis use among young Chileans has increased in recent years. Today, one out of five students between Year 8 and Year 12 referred cannabis use during the last 30 days. Almost a 20% of students in...