Drinking frequency as a brief screen for adolescent alcohol problems.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Routine alcohol screening of adolescents in pediatric settings is recommended, and could be facilitated by a very brief empirically validated alcohol screen based on alcohol consumption. This study used national sample data to test the screening performance of 3 alcohol consumption items (ie, frequency of use in the past year, quantity per occasion, frequency of heavy episodic drinking) in identifying youth with alcohol-related problems.

Methods

Data were from youth aged 12 to 18 participating in the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health from 2000 to 2007. The screening performance of 3 alcohol consumption items was tested, by age and gender, against 2 outcomes: any Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition alcohol use disorder symptom ("moderate"-r

SUBMITTER: Chung T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3269115 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature