Also, as hypothesized, several indices of alcohol and other drug misuse were positively associated with higher scales’ scores. Furthermore, females had higher internalizing scores than males, consistent with both clinical observation and research (e.g.,19,20). In sum, the Internalizing Scale echoes SSAGA’s diagnostic consistency and validity. It is important to acknowledge the modest to moderate magnitude of relationships between the scales and substance use variables. The validation sample was young, with mean ages of 14.4 and 23.3 for the adolescent and young adult members, respectively (Table 1). Although 34.6% of the adult members had an AUD, only 6.3% of their adolescent counterparts did (Table 4). For this younger group, the full flowering of drug and alcohol involvement has not yet occurred, and the relationship between internalizing characteristics and substance misuse may be less robust than at later stages of life.2,54 In addition, as mentioned earlier, internalizing characteristics are not as strongly associated with substance misuse as are externalizing characteristics, particularly among relatively young samples (e.g.,54). The purpose of this work was not to demonstrate a strong relationship between internalizing characteristics and
