Objective: To investigate the relationship of negative life events, rumination, learned resourcefulness, and currently psychiatric problems among incarcerated juveniles with a history of substance abuse.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Materials and methods: Samples aged between 15 and 18 years who had a history of substance abuse at the Ban Karuna Juvenile Vocational Training Center for Boys. The data were collected by using 5 sets of research instruments: 1) demographic data questionnaires, 2) The Negative Event Scale (NES), 3) Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), 4) The Self-Control Schedule (SCS), and 5) Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) Thai version. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis.

Results: One hundred and ten juveniles completed much of the questionnaire. The mean age of juveniles was 16.92 years (S.D.=1.02). The mean age of the first time of substance abuse was 14.25 years (S.D.=1.68). The result demonstrated that 23% of variance of antisocial personality disorders was explained by learned resourcefulness (LR). While LR decreases, the likelihood of being antisocial personality disorders increases approximately 6% (OR=0.94, 95%CI=0.91-0.97, p=0.00). Additionally, approximately 22% and 9% of variance of anxiety and depressive disorders were explained by rumination. It was found that the likelihood of being anxiety disorder and depressed increase 9% (OR= 1.09, 95%CI=1.03-1.17, p=0.01) and 7% (OR=1.07, 95%CI=1.01-1.13, p=0.02), respectively.

Conclusion: Based on these findings, promoting LR may decrease the risk of antisocial personality disorders, while increasing rumination may also increase the risk of depression and anxiety disorders. In other words, teaching LR and ways of thinking should be addressed in order to decrease mental health risks or likelihood of psychiatric problems.