Interpretation of items in the AUDIT questionnaire.
OBJECTIVE
To test for the possibility that tertiary students misinterpret certain items on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT).


METHODS
Responses to alternative question wordings were compared with responses to standard items.


RESULTS
Alterations to items 5 and 9, so that consequences of drinking epitomized in these items were more specifically defined, resulted in markedly different response distributions to the item, but the total AUDIT score was not changed.


CONCLUSIONS
Caution is necessary before using individual AUDIT items as measures of consequences in population surveys, and the possibility of false positives in total scores should be borne in mind.
Kypri
Kypros
K
Injury Prevention Research Unit, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago Medical School, P. O. Box 913, Dunedin, New Zealand.
McGee
Rob
R
Saunders
John B
JB
Langley
John D
JD
Dean
Johanna I
JI
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data