A comparison of two alcohol craving questionnaires.
OBJECTIVE
To compare two multi-dimensional questionnaires to measure cravings and urges for alcohol: the Alcohol Craving Questionnaire (ACQ: Singleton, Henningfield and Tiffany, 1994a) and the Desires for Alcohol Questionnaire (DAQ: Clark et al., 1996).


METHODS
Both questionnaires were administered, in a counterbalanced order, to a total of 380 recreational drinkers. In a further study, a shortened version of the DAQ was administered to a sample of 131 drinkers attending AA or a treatment centre. Exploratory factor analyses were carried out on the data and relationships between questionnaire score and other variables were assessed.


RESULTS
In recreational drinkers both instruments appeared to have a three-factor structure. The DAQ appeared superior to the ACQ in a number of respects: it produced more reliable factors; its structure accounted for a higher proportion of the variance; the factor inter-correlations were somewhat lower; in a combined analysis of both instruments most of the factors retained came from the DAQ; and the DAQ discriminated better between bing and non-binge drinkers and excessive and moderate drinkers. A similar factor structure was found for the DAQ in the alcoholic subjects with addition of a factor of "controllability".


CONCLUSIONS
The results support a multifactorial account of alcohol craving, and indicate that the DAQ has some advantages over the ACQ as a research tool.
Love
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A
Department of Psychology, University of Wales, Swansea, UK.
James
D
D
Willner
P
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires