Measuring excessive alcohol use in college drinking contexts: The drinking context scale

doi:10.1016/S0306-4603(96)00050-0

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 22, Issue 4, July–August 1997, Pages 469-477

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4603(96)00050-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

Research on youthful drinking has shown that the greatest risks associated with alcohol abuse are related to contextual factors that may potentiate heavy drinking as well as increase risks for adverse consequences. These contextual factors include interacting psychological, interpersonal, and environmental dimensions of alcohol use. However, despite considerable college drinking research to identify these factors, few formal instruments have been produced for measuring excessive drinking in multidimensional contexts. The current study of 197 college students who were cited their first time for breaking university drinking rules focuses on the development and validation of a scale for measuring the likelihood of excessive drinking across an array of psychological, interpersonal and situational contexts resulting in the 23-item Drinking Context Scale (DCS). Three distinct factors emerged defining Convivial drinking. Private Intimate drinking, and drinking as a form of Negative Coping. These three factors explained 61.5% of the variance after principal components analysis and varimax rotation, showed excellent internal reliabilities, and were moderately intercorrelated. MANOVA analysis demonstrated concurrent validity with the Quality Frequency Index (QFI) and a modified version of the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST). Implications for further research with the DCS are suggested.

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Measuring excessive alcohol use in college drinking contexts: The drinking context scale

Abstract

Addictive Behaviors

Addictive Behaviors

Addictive Behaviors

Behavior Therapy

Inventory of drinking situations

Verbal report methods in clinical research on alcoholism: response bias and its minimization

Journal of Studies on Alcohol

Expectancies vs. background in the prediction of college drinking patterns

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

The Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire: An instrument for the assessment of adolescent and adult alcohol expectancies

Journal of Studies on Alcohol

Expectations of reinforcement from alcohol: Their domain and relation to drinking patterns

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

Situational determinants of heavy drinking among college students

Journal of Counseling Psychology

Heavy drinking contexts and indices of problem drinking among college students

Journal of Studies on Alcohol

Social determinants of alcohol consumption: The effects of social interaction and model status on the self-administration of alcohol

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

Factor-analytic methods of scale development in personality and clinical psychology

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

The powers of John Barleycorn

American Psychologist

Drinking patterns and drinking problems of college students

Journal of Studies on Alcohol

Drinking and problem drinking in early adulthood and middle age: An exploratory 20-year follow-up study

Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol

Psychosocial factors in adolescent drinking contexts

Journal of Studies on Alcohol