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Drinking frequency as a brief screen for adolescent alcohol problems
Tammy Chung1, Gregory T Smith, John E Donovan
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PAARC, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. chungta@upmc.edu
Pediatrics
|January 6, 2012
Summary
Drinking frequency is an effective tool for identifying adolescents with alcohol problems. This brief screen helps detect moderate-risk alcohol use disorder symptoms and high-risk alcohol dependence in youth.
Area of Science:
- Adolescent Health
- Substance Use Research
- Public Health Screening
Background:
- Routine alcohol screening in pediatric settings is recommended for early intervention.
- Brief, empirically validated alcohol screening tools are needed to facilitate this process.
- Alcohol consumption patterns are key indicators of potential alcohol-related problems in youth.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the screening performance of three alcohol consumption items in identifying alcohol-related problems among adolescents.
- To assess the utility of drinking frequency, quantity per occasion, and heavy episodic drinking frequency as screening measures.
- To determine optimal screening criteria for different risk levels of alcohol use disorders in youth.
Main Methods:
- Utilized national sample data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2000-2007) for adolescents aged 12-18.
- Tested the screening performance of three alcohol consumption items against moderate-risk (any alcohol use disorder symptom) and high-risk (alcohol dependence) outcomes.
- Analyzed screening performance by age and gender, examining sensitivity and specificity of different consumption measures.
Main Results:
- Prevalence of alcohol use disorder symptoms and alcohol dependence increased with age.
- Drinking frequency demonstrated higher sensitivity and specificity in identifying both moderate- and high-risk outcomes compared to other measures.
- Similar drinking frequency cut points are effective for males and females, but age-specific cut points are recommended for maximizing screening performance.
Conclusions:
- Drinking frequency serves as an empirically supported, brief screening tool for efficiently identifying youth with alcohol-related problems.
- This measure can aid pediatric settings in routine alcohol screening and early detection of alcohol use disorders.
- The findings support the use of drinking frequency as a primary indicator in adolescent alcohol screening protocols.
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