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The CRAFFT is the substance-use screen for adolescents. The acronym names the six core items: Car, Relax, Alone, Forget, Family/Friends, Trouble. Boston Children’s Hospital’s Center for Adolescent Behavioral Health Research maintains the current 2.1 version at CRAFFT.org. The CRAFFT is the only adolescent-specific substance-use measure in the Rivet library — for clients aged 12–21, it’s the validated alternative to adult instruments like the AUDIT and DAST-10.

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What it measures

Two parts:
  • Part A — past-12-month frequency of three substance categories: alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs. Frequency is captured (0, 1, 2–3, 4–9, 10–19, 20–39, 40+ days) but doesn’t contribute to the screen score.
  • Part B — the 6-item CRAFFT screen, yes/no:
    • Car — riding with a driver who’d been drinking or using
    • Relax — using to relax, feel better about yourself, fit in
    • Alone — using alone
    • Forget — forgetting things while using
    • Family/Friends — being told by family or friends to cut down
    • Trouble — getting into trouble while using

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When to send it

  • Adolescent intake (any client 12–21)
  • Routine adolescent-medicine substance-use screening
  • Pre/post for adolescent substance-use treatment
  • When parents raise concerns and you want a validated instrument as part of the assessment

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How Rivet scores it

Sum of Part B yes-scored items, range 0–6. Part A frequency items are captured for context but don’t add to the screen score.
Part B yes countBand
0–1Below CRAFFT cutoff
2–6Positive screen — further assessment indicated
Cutoff ≥2 is the standard threshold (Knight et al. 2002).
Per CRAFFT 2.1 guidance, Part B should be administered if any Part A item is ≥1 day, OR if the adolescent has ridden in a car with an impaired driver. Rivet presents all items without conditional gating, leaving the clinical judgment with you — you can choose to score only Part B when Part A is all-zero with no car item endorsed.

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Citation

Knight, J. R., Sherritt, L., Shrier, L. A., Harris, S. K., & Chang, G. (2002). Validity of the CRAFFT substance abuse screening test among adolescent clinic patients. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 156(6), 607–614. Current 2.1 version maintained by the Center for Adolescent Behavioral Health Research at Boston Children’s Hospital at CRAFFT.org. Free clinical use; the publisher courtesy-requests registration.

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When not to use it

For adults (22+), the AUDIT family and DAST-10 are the validated alternatives. The CRAFFT’s car-and-peer-pressure framing is calibrated to adolescent social context — it can read awkwardly with older clients and its norms come from the 12–21 sample.

AUDIT-C

The 3-item adult alcohol screen.

DAST-10

The 10-item adult non-alcohol drug screen.