Validation and normalization of the youth risk-taking behavior assessment scale in an Iranian sample of substance abusers undergoing methadone maintenance treatment

Risk-taking (RT) behaviors play a key role in addiction and drug-related disorders. It is necessary to assess RT among young people, as they represent a key demographic vulnerable to drug and alcohol abuse. The aim of the present study was to validate and normalize the 18-item scale assessing youth RT behavior (RT-18) in a sample of substance abusers undergoing methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). In the present study, we employed a descriptive design and aimed to validate the RT-18 scale. The statistical population of the research included all substance-abusing (dependent) patients under MMT in Rasht, northern Iran. Using consecutive sampling, 220 patients were selected from three addiction treatment clinics and provided informed and voluntary consent to answer the RT-18 scale and the brief substance craving scale (BSCS). The test-retest reliability of the RT-18 scale was 0.74. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of RT-18, RT, and risk assessment (RA) subscales were 0.70, 0.88, and 0.55, respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the modified two-factor structure for abusers under MMT provided a good model fit (2/degree of freedom = 2.74; weighted root mean square residual = 0.897; Tucker-Lewis index = 0.915; comparative fit index = 0.91; root mean square error of approximation = 0.061). The total RT-18 score was significantly correlated with BSCS scores (r = 0.26; p<0.01), but explained only a small proportion of variance (F [1,218] = 6.34; p=0.013). The results of the present study indicate that the Persian version of the RT-18 scale has acceptable reliability coefficients and may be used reliably in outpatient addiction treatment settings to assess RT behavior. However, the reliability coefficient of the RA subscale was low, and the total RT-18 score displayed limited predictive value for substance craving scores.