Measurement of Alcohol Use and Misuse in a Cohort of Students Followed from Grade 6 Through Grade 12

In following a cohort of students from grade 6 through grade 12 for the purpose of evaluating an Alcohol Misuse Prevention Study curriculum, a substudy of the measurement of alcohol use and misuse was conducted. The 6-year follow-up of young people over time afforded a good opportunity to assess the adequacy of the initially chosen measures to 1) provide data with statistically desirable properties, and 2) be sensitive to and representative of the wide range of alcohol use and misuse patterns among adolescents as they mature. Revised measures of alcohol use and misuse were developed from the data responding to the same questionnaire items that had been used throughout the study. The revised measures demonstrated good psychometric properties and may be useful in other studies. HE CONCEPTUALIZATION and measurement of T alcohol use and misuse have received attention from numerous investigators,’-’ but primarily with a focus on studies of adults. Adolescent alcohol use and misuse must also be assessed by careful measurement in the several different types of studies likely to be conducted: those that assess prevalence, changing trends, antecedents, and the effectiveness of alcohol use/misuse prevention interventions. Replicability of the measures is important, so that comparisons among studies can be made. In selecting measures for research with young people, investigators should consider the measures’ appropriateness for the age group being studied. Alcohol use changes dramatically from elementary school through high school, thus item wording and sensitivity of the measures must be carefully evaluated. Although different measures may be appropriate for different ages, in longitudinal studies, utilization of the same questionnaire items over time and of measures that are sensitive to change is critical. In 1984 when the authors began the study reported herein, there were few sources of information on alcohol