title: Psychometric evaluation of the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST) in a psychiatric sample.
abstract: The Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST) is a 30-item screening instrument developed to identify children who are either living with or have lived with alcoholic parents. In a sample of 250 psychiatric patients, the CAST exhibited substantial item-total scale correlations and a high level of internal consistency reliability. Total CAST scores discriminated self-identified children of problem drinkers from control subjects and were significantly correlated with the severity of parental psychological and social complications due to alcohol misuse. Factor analysis indicated a unidimensional scale structure. CAST cut-off scores produced a low false positive and false negative rate. The psychometric properties of the CAST suggest that it is a useful screening instrument for identifying the offspring of problem drinkers and alcoholics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, St. Boniface General Hospital, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Staley
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: el-Guebaly
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors