title: Knowing when to say when: a simple assessment of alcohol impairment.
abstract: The use of writing samples as indices of alcohol impairment was explored. Students at a campus fraternity party wrote a sentence and their signatures before and after consuming alcohol (in beer and mixed drinks). Later, undergraduate and graduate students attempted to discriminate between pre- and postparty handwriting samples. The average percentage of correct discriminations of entrance and exit writing samples was 83.7% for sentences and 67.5% for signatures, and the percentage of correct discriminations increased directly with the blood alcohol concentration of the partier who gave the writing sample. When a partier's blood alcohol concentration reached 0.15, all of the judges accurately discriminated 90% or more of the sentences, and 25 of the 28 judges correctly discriminated at least 80% of the signatures. All of the judges correctly discriminated at least 90% of the 18 sentences written by partiers with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.12 or more. Implications of these findings for reducing the risk of driving while intoxicated are discussed, as well as directions for follow-up research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg 24061-0436.
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Geller
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kalsher
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000097:blood / Q000523:psychology*; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D005260:Female; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D012927:Social Control, Informal
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol