Does pervasive developmental disorder protect children and adolescents against drug and alcohol use?
The aim of this paper is (1) to compare the rates of reported drug and/or alcohol use (DAU) in treatment seeking adolescents with Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD), and those with other psychiatric diagnoses (psychiatric controls) seen in tertiary child and adolescent mental health services and (2) to explore the relationship of psychopathology, environmental stressors, and social communication difficulties to DAU.