Measurement of lifetime alcohol consumption

The reliability and validity of a retrospective, self-report measure, the Concordia Lifetime Drinking Questionnaire (CLDQ), were assessed with a group of 72 elderly Canadian men. The CLDQ includes quantity and frequency questions on current beverage-specific alcohol use and a series of questions about the start of alcohol use. The innovative features of the CLDQ include requiring subjects to collaborate with the interviewer in drawing a graph that represents their lifetime drinking patterns and encouraging more accurate recall by the use of salient events in the subject's life history. Drinking was assessed on two occasions approximately 33 months apart. Forty-six wives responded to questions about their husband's drinking. The reliability coefficient for lifetime drinking was .78. A comparison of the two graphs every fifth year from 1945 to 1985 yielded significant correlations that ranged from .65 to .87. Validity was tested by comparing each wife's rating of her husband's drinking at present and at time of marriage with similar points on the husband's graphs; the correlations were .87 and .72, respectively. Moderate correlations were obtained between the MAST and the CLDQ. The CLDQ was judged to be a reliable and valid measure of lifetime drinking, appropriate for use with the elderly. The longitudinal lifetime drinking patterns appeared similar to those found in cross-sectional studies.