The development and initial validation of the Drug Abuse Screening Test for Adolescents (DAST-A) is summarized. The DAST-A, derived from a modification of the original adult version called the Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST; Skinner, 1982), was psychometrically tested in a study group of adolescent inpatients. The DAST-A demonstrated good internal consistency, high test-retest reliability, unidimensional factor structure, and good concurrent validity. Using the classification system of the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(American Psychiatric Association 1994), DAST-A scores of greater than 6 yielded sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive powers of 78.6%, 84.5%, and 82.3%, respectively, in differentiating adolescent psychiatric inpatients with and without drug-related disorders. These findings suggest that the DAST-A holds promise as a drug abuse screening measure in psychiatrically impaired adolescent populations.