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Identifying Young People Who Drink Too Much: The Clinical Utility of the Five-Item Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT)

NCJ Number
188816
Journal
Drug and Alcohol Review Volume: 20 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2001 Pages: 9-18
Author(s)
Helen Miles; Adam Winstock; John Strang
Date Published
March 2001
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the patterns and consequences of alcohol use among young people and their perceptions of associated health risk, and explored the clinical utility of the five-item version of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test in screening young people for hazardous drinking.
Abstract
Data for the study were obtained from a cross-sectional sample of 393 college students aged 16-19 who completed an anonymous, confidential questionnaire recording the five-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). More than 90 percent of the sample reported drinking alcohol regularly, commonly excessive weekend use, and related physical, psychological, and social consequences. A significant minority (20.4 percent of males, 18.0 percent of females) reported alcohol consumption in excess of U.K. recommended limits, while 34.2 percent of males and 30.2 percent of females reported scores in the "hazardous" range of the five-item AUDIT. The majority had little perception of associated health risk, perceiving their use to be "light" and unproblematic. Only one in 10 of those drinking at "hazardous" levels recognized their alcohol use as problematic, most believing the hazardous consequences of this use were acceptable. Self-reported patterns of alcohol consumption (except age first used) and total number of psychological and social hazardous consequences significantly predicted AUDIT scores using linear regression analysis. Therefore, the study concluded that the five-item AUDIT appeared to have predictive validity, and may consequently have clinical utility as a simple screening tool for identifying hazardous alcohol consumption among young people. Tables, references, appendix