PsychologicalReports, 1992, 70, 231-238.

O Psychological Reports 1992

MEASURING DRINKING PATTERNS AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS ' JANICE G. WILLIAMS AND AMANDA MORRICE Clemson Uniuersiby Summary.-Alcohol use among college students is of interest to clinicians and researchers. The results of such studies depend on the quality and nature of the measures used. The literature includes a wide variety of operational definitions of drinking patterns, making difficult comparisons across studies. For 109 men and 83 women attending college this paper provides data on the Drinking Practices Questionnaire, a self-report measure of drinking patterns designed specifically for use with college students. The three subscales, Negative Affect, Positive Expectancies, and Negative Consequences, have good internal consistency reliabilities, and scores correlate significantly with measures of problems associated with alcohol use. Appropriate uses of the measure are discussed.

Alcohol use and abuse on college campuses has been a concern of clinicians and researchers for many years (Berkowitz & Perkins, 1986; Engs, 1977). High levels of alcohol use and the problems associated with drinking are well-documented (Friend & Koushki, 1984; Meilman, Yanofsky, Gaylor, & Turco, 1989). Changes in the legal drinking age do not appear to have had a marked effect on the number of college students who drink alcohol (Davis & Reynolds, 1990). Researchers (Rrown, 1985; Brown, Goldrnan, Inn, & Anderson, 1980; Engs, 1977; Haack & Harford, 1984) have begun to examine relationships among students' drinking patterns and problems consequent to alcohol use. These studies, although useful individually as additions to our knowledge, are difficult to compare, given the differences in the operational definitions of drinking patterns. These definitions range from quantity and frequency of consumption (Engs, 1977; Haack & Harford, 1984) to inclusion of the context of consumption (Brown, 1985; Brown, et al., 1980). The descriptions of these measures provide varying amounts of information about the reliability and validity of the scores. Engs' (1977) Student Alcohol Questionnaire is among the most frequently employed measures of college students' drinking. I t consists of 6 items assessing quantity and frequency of consumption, 17 alcohol-related problems, 36 alcohol knowledge items, and 11 demographic items. The scale was developed for content validity. Reliability was addressed (Engs, 1977) by calculating the percentage of students whose scores on the first 23 scale 'This study was described in part in a paper presented at the Southeastern Psychological Association meeting, March, 1991. Correspondence should be addressed to Janice G. Williams, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-1511.

232

J. G . WILLLAMS & A. MORRICE

items did not change over a one-month period. This questionnaire and modifications of it have been used in a great deal of recent research. Hanson and Engs (1984, 1986) and Engs and Hanson (1986, 1989), for example, have used the Student Alcohol Questionnaire to document students' drinking patterns over time and in response to changes in the legal drinking age. Their studies indicate that college drinking is a relatively stable phenomenon, with some minor decreases in drinking-related problems associated with increased legal age (Engs & Hanson, 1986; Hanson & Engs, 1984) and some increase in consumption immelately following the age increase (Engs & Hanson, 1989). Other researchers (Gonzalez, 1990b; Haworth-Hoeppner, Globetti, Stem, & Morasco, 1989; Lotterhos, Glover, Holbert, & Barnes, 1988) have also used versions of Engs' questionnaire and obtained similar results, which indicate that patterns of college alcohol use have remained fairly stable despite, the change in laws. Most research includes some quantity-frequency measure such as the one incorporated in the Student Alcohol Questionnaire, but specific indices vary. Davis and Reynolds (1990) reported that, after the increase in the legal drinking age, men were less likely to fall into the "heavy drinker" category, but their 3-point scale may not be comparable to the 5- or 6-point scale more often used. Typical student drinking patterns may also cloud the results obtained with only a quantity-frequency measure. Gonzalez (1990a1, for example, found that quantity-frequency scores of students spending spring break at Daytona Beach decreased from 1981 to 1986. Researchers who have incorporated items related to drinking circumstances have drawn somewhat different conclusions. George, Crowe, Abwender, and Slunner (1989) reported that, while drinking days decreased, number of drinks per week did not and drinking in automobiles increased significantly. Location of residence has also been related to drinking patterns (O'Hare, 1990), with oncampus men and off-campus women being the most likely to drink heavily. Similarly, Hughes and Dodder (1986) observed no over-all change in alcohol consumption by college students after the legal age increase, but there were changes in beverage consumed and in location of consumption. Such findings indicate that the questions included on drinking pattern measures strongly influence our perceptions of college drinking patterns. The Customary Drinking Record (Brown, et al., 1980) is another commonly used drinking pattern measure. The Customary Drinking Record includes a history of alcohol consumption during the last weekend and a calendar on which the subject indicates d r i i n g occasions and amount consumed during the past two weeks. I t also assesses typical quantity and frequency of alcohol use, drinking settings and companions, and frequency and intensity of ~ h ~ s i cillness al after drinking. Despite the appearance of this measure in a variety of studies (e.g., Brown, 1985; Brown, Goldman, & Christiansen,

MEASURING DRINKING PATTERNS

233

1985; Brown, et al., 19801, only moderate (.56 to .61) alternate forms reliability has been presented and validity is based on subjects' anonymous estimates of accuracy of self-report. The lack of information on the psychometric properties of this scale, as well as the Student Alcohol Questionnaire, complicates synthesis of the research literature on college drinking patterns. Availability of more information on the reliability and validity of measures used to assess drinlung patterns will enhance understanding of the research findings. This paper contains a description of the development of the Drinking Practices Questionnaire, a reliable and valid measure of college students' drinking patterns, defined in terms of students' perceived positive and negative antecedents and consequences to the use of alcohol. As an indicator of validity, it was expected that scores would correlate significantly with quantity of alcohol consumed and self-reported problems associated with alcohol use. Subjects Two groups of Introductory PsychoIogy students, participating in return for course credt, were used. One hundred nine male and 83 female students described in a previous study (Williams & Kleinfelter, 1989) participated in the item-selection phase. An additional 98 students in introductory psychology completed the questionnaire for assessment of its reliability and vabdity. Of the second group, 51 were men, 42 were women, and 5 d ~ dnot specify their sex. Ninety-four percent were white, 4% were black, and 2% answered "Other." Average age was 19.1 yr. (SD = 2.5). Materia1s In addition to the Drinking Practices Questiomak developed in this study, the following instruments2 were used: (1) a self-report version of the Quantity-Frequency-Variability Index (Calahan, Cisin, & Crossley, 19851, a measure of amount of alcohol consumption, (2) the Physical Dependence scale of the Comprehensive Drinker Profile (Marlatt & Miller, 1985), a 12item self-report measure of signs associated with physical dependence on alcohol, and (3) the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (Marlatt & Miller, 1985; Selzer, 197I), a 25-item self-report diagnostic screening ins trument for alcoholism. Procedure Item generation.-To

ensure content validity, items were based on the

'Thanks to Dr. Calahan, Dr. Selzer, and Psychological Assessment Resources for their perrnission to use these measures.

234

J. G. WILLIAMS & A . MORRICE

Drinking Patterns Questionnaire (McCrady & Zitter, 1979), a 269-item self-report measure that assesses antecedents of alcohol use and positive and negative consequences of drinking. The Drinking Patterns Questionnaire has been a useful measure of drinking patterns among alcoholics (McCrady & Zitter, 1979; Noel & McCrady, 1984). Because the new measure was intended for use with college students, some of McCrady's items were reworded to be appropriate for such a population (e.g., items relating to work were reworded as school items; items about spouses were changed to family or friend items). The majority of items relating specifically to marital relationships, relationshps with children, and relationships with in-laws were deleted as inappropriate for the target population. A total of 122 items were generated for the initial administration. Item selection.-Item scores from the initial group of subjects were factor analyzed using the SAS Version 6 Factor procedure (SAS Institute, 1988). Principal components were subjected to varimax rotation. A three-factor solution, accounting for 60.6% of the variance, was selected. Items3 loading on the first factor ("Negative Emotions") were related to drinking in response to negative emotional states, such as worrying about school, having pain, and f e e h g inferior. The second factor ("Positive Expectancies") contained items related to positive antecedents and consequences of drinking, such as wanting to feel more comfortable with others, feeling excited, and expecting to feel more relaxed. The third factor ("Negative Consequences") contained items related to negative consequences of drinking, such as physical illness, blackouts, and guilt. Items were deleted from the three subscales initially on the basis of low factor loadings and then due to low item-subscore correlations. These procedures left 73 items for examination of reliability and validity. Response format is a 7-point scale in Likert format, anchored at the endpoints of 1 with "never" and 7 with "very often." Subjects are presented a sentence stem, such as "When you drink, how often is it because of. . . ." Scale items complete the stem. Subscale items are intermingled in the questionnaire, grouped by the appropriate stem. Scale scores are formed by adding item scores.

Reliability The SPSS Reliability procedure (SPSS, 1988) indicated that the subscale scores were internally consistent. The Negative Emotion scale had a coefficient alpha of .97. The Positive Expectancies scale had a coefficient

The entire questionnaire ma be obtained from the authon and is also on file as Document k P S - 0 1 9 2 6 . Remit $13.15 jbr photocopy or 14.00 for fiche to Microfiche Publications, POB 3513, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163.

235

MEASURING DRINKING PATTERNS

alpha of .92, and the Negative Consequences scale had a coefficient alpha of .87. These coefficients indicate high reliability for the subscales.

Validity Validity was assessed by examining the relationships among subscale scores of the Drinking Practices Questionnaire with scores on Physical Dependence, the Quantity-Frequency-Variability Index, and the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test. Results of this analysis are presented in Table l. TABLE 1 PEARSON C O R R E L A ~ O N S AMONG ~ ~ ~ A S U ROFE DR~NKLVG S P A ~ E RAN N D MEASURES OF V m m

4

5

6

-.24 .02 97

.28 .01 91

. .Ol

.03 .77 96

.49 .01 91

.43 .01 96

-.I1 .27 96

.41 .01 91

.49 .01 96

r

-. 16

P

.12 90

-.27 .01 95

Variable

2

3

1. Quantity-Frequency-Variability Index r .27 .54 P .01 .01 n 97 97 2. Negative Emotions r .63 P .01 n 97 3. Positive Expectancies I

P n 4. Negative Consequences

n

.46 96

5. Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test r

P n

.58 .01 91

6. Physical Dependency Scale

Means and standard deviations for these measures are reported in Table 2. The Negative Emotions scale showed moderate positive correlations with the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test and Physical Dependence scales and a small but significant positive correlation with the Quantity-Frequency-Variability Index. Subjects reporting drinking in response to negative emotional states also reported greater alcohol use and more signs of alcohol-related problems than subjects who reported less drinking in response to negative emotional states. The Positive Expectancies scale had moderate positive correlations with scores on the other three scales, indicating that subjects who reported drinking as a result of positive antecedents or experiencing positive consequences of drinking consume more alcohol and report more alcohol-related problems than subjects who did not associate positive experiences with

236

J. G. WILLIAMS

& A. MORRICE

TABLE 2 MEANSAND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR MEASURES OF DRINKING PATERNS A N D MEASURES USED RJ V ~ r n ~ n o ~ Variable

Mf

Quantity-Frequency-Variability Index 4.50 Drinking Practices Questionnaire 89.10 Negative Emotions Positive Expectancies 60.66 36.69 Negative Consequences Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test 5.90 Physical Dependence 4.59 *All means and standard deviations are reported in raw score points.

SD .91 42.46 26.83 17.17 4.77 2.98

drinking. The Negative Consequences scale had a s m d but significant negative correlation with Physical Dependence scores, and nonsignificant negative correlations with the Quantity-Frequency-Variability Index and the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test. Subjects who associated more negative consequences with drinking tended to drink less and reported few signs of physical dependence on alcohol. Subjects who associated fewer negative consequences with drinking reported drinking more alcohol and endorsed more signs of physical dependence.

Scale Characteristics Table 1 shows the correlations among the new subscale scores. The Negative Emotions scale and the Positive Expectancies scale are highly positively correlated, indicating that subjects who described drinking in response to negative emotional states also tended to report drinking in response to positive antecedents or expecting positive consequences. Scores on the Negative Consequences scale have low, nonsignificant correlations with those on both the Negative Emotions scale and the Positive Expectancies scale. DISCUSSION Results support the Drinking Patterns Questionnaire as a reliable, valid measure of drinking patterns among college students. The subscale scores are related to quantity of alcohol consumed and to self-reported problems associated with alcohol use. The Negative Emotions scale and the Positive Expectancies scale particularly appear to be supported by these results. The relationship of the Negative Consequences scale to problem drinking is less clear-cut, but its reliability is strong. The combination of these three subscales is promising for the description of college students' drinking, with the Negative Emotions and Positive Expectancies scales predicting heavier alcohol use and more alcohol-related problems, and the Negative Consequences scale predicting lighter alcohol use and fewer signs of physical dependency on

MEASURING DRINKING PATTERNS

237

alcohol. As a whole, the questionnaire enables researchers to look at both abusive and controlled drinking patterns. The advantages of the questionnaire include brevity and flexibility. I t may be given along with whatever quantity and frequency measure seems appropriate for the circumstances. Using a behavioral approach to the description of drinking, it covers a wide variety of antecedents and consequences to drinking and is specifically adapted for use with college students. Its development included attention to content validity, concurrent validity, and internal consistency, establishing its potential as a useful measure of drinking patterns in college students. The questionnaire will be useful both to researchers as a tool for describing drinking patterns and to clinicians as a measure of problematic characteristics of drinking behavior in college students. The broad array of situational aspects of alcohol consumption included in the measure will enable comparisons with other clinical measures of alcohol use, such 21s the Drinking Patterns Questionnaire (McCrady & Zitter, 1979). REFERENCES BERKOWITZ, A. D., & PERKINS,H. W. (1986) Problem drinking among college students: a review of recent research. Journal of American College Health, 35, 21-28. BROWN, S. A. (1985) Expectancies versus background in the prediction of college drinking patterns. Journal of Consulring and Clinical Psychology, 53, 123-130. BROWN,S. A., GOLDMAN, M. S., & CHRISTIANSEN, B. A. (1985) Do alcohol ex ectancies mediate drinking patterns of adults? Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psyc!ology, 53, 512519. BROWN,S. A,, GOLDMAN, M. S., INN,A,, & ANDERSON, L. R. (1980) Expectations of reinforcement from alcohol: their domain and relation to drinking patterns. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48, 419-426. CALAHAN, D., CISM, I. H., & CROSSLEY, H. M. (1985) Quantity-Frequency-Variability Index. In D. J. Lettieri, J. E. Nelson, & M. A. Sayers (Eds.), NIAAA treatment handbook series. Vol. 2. RockviUe, MD: NIAAA. Pp. 78-81. DAVIS,J. E., & REYNOLDS, N. C. (1990) Alcohol use among college students: responses to raising the purchase age. Journal of American College Health, 38, 263-269. ENGS,R. C. (1977) Drinking patterns and drinking problems of college students. Journal of Studies on Akohol, 38, 2144-2156. ENGS,R. C., & HANSON, D. J. (1986) Age-specific alcohol prohibition and college students' drinking problems. Psychological Reports, 59, 979-984. ENGS,R. C., & HANSON,D. J. (1989) Reactance theory: a test with collegiate drinking. Psychological Reports, 64, 1083-1086. FRIEND,K. E., & KOUSHKI,P. A. (1989) Student substance use: stability and change across college years. International Journal of the Addictions, 19, 571-575. GEORGE,W. H., CROWE,L. C., ABWENDER, D., & SKINNER, J. B. (1989) Effects of mslng the drinking age to 21 years in New York State on self-reported consumption by college students Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 19, 623-635. GONZALEZ, G M (1990a) Effects of drinking age on reduced consumption of alcohol reported by college students: 1981-1986. Journal of Drug Issues, 20, 67-73. GONZALEZ,G. M. (1990b) Effects of raising the drinking age and related campus initiatives on student alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems. Journal of College Student Development, 31, 181-183. HAACK, M. R., & HARFORD,T. C. (1984) Drinking patterns among student nurses. International Journal of the Addictions, 19, 577-583.

238

J. G. WILLIAMS & A. MORRICE

HANSON,D. J., & ENGS, R. C. (1984) College students' drinking attitudes: 1370-1982. Psychological Reports, 54, 300-302. HANSON,D. J., & ENGS, R. C. (1986) College students' drinking problems: 1982-1985. Psychological Reports, 58, 276-278. HAWORTH-HOEPPNER, S., GLOBETIT,G., STF.M, ., & MORASCO, F. (1989) The quantity and frequency of drinking among undergra uates at a southern university. International Journal of the Addictions, 24, 829-857. HUGHES,S. P., & DODDER,R. A. (1986) Raising the minimum drinking age: short-term effects with college student samples. Journal of Drug Issues, 16, 609-620. LOTTERHOS,J F., GLOVER,E. D., HOLBERT,D., & BARNES,R. C. (1988) Intentionality of colle e students regarding North Carolina's 21-year drinking age law. International Journal orthe Addictions, 23, 629-647. MARIA=, G. A,, & MILLER,W. R. (1985) Comprehensive Drinker Profile. Odessa, F L : Psychological Assessment Resources. MCCRADY,B. S., & ZITTER, R. (1979) The Drinking Patterns Questionnaire. (Unpublished manuscript, Rutgers Univer.) MEILMAN, P. W., YANOFSKY, N.N., G A ~ O RM., S., & TURCO,J. H. (1989) Visits to the cob lege health service for alcohol-related injuries. American Journal of College Health, 37, 205-210. Now, N. E., & MCCRADY,B. S. (1984) Behavioral treatment of an alcohol abuser with the spouse present: two case studies. In E. Kadman (Ed.), Power to change: family case studies in the treatment of alcoholism. New York: Gardner Press. Pp. 23-77. O'HARE,T. M. (1990) Drinking in college: consumption patterns, problems, sex differences, and legal drinking age. Journal of Studies on Akohol, 51, 536-541. SAS I ~ s n m x INC. , (1988) SAS user's guide: statistics. Cary, NC: Author. SELZER,M. L. (1971) The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test: the quest for a new diagnostic instrument. American Journal ofPsychiatry, 127, 1653-1658. S ~ ~ n s n PACKAGE c h ~ FOR THE SOCIALSCIENCES, INC. (1988) SPSS user's guide. Chicago, IL: Author. WWS, J. G., & KLEINFELTER, K. J. (1989) Perceived problem-solving skills and drinking patterns among college students. Psychological Reports, 65, 1235-1244.

d

Accepted January 13, 1992.

Measuring drinking patterns among college students.

Alcohol use among college students is of interest to clinicians and researchers. The results of such studies depend on the quality and nature of the m...
297KB Sizes 0 Downloads 0 Views