title: Reliability of Lifetime Drinking History among alcohol dependent men.
abstract: Information regarding patterns and correlates of problem drinking over the life course is important for both clinical and research purposes although few retrospective, psychometrically adequate instruments to collect data of this kind are available. In the current study, the authors report 5-year test-retest reliabilities of the Lifetime Drinking History (LDH). Analyses were based on 49 male participants with a lifetime diagnosis of alcohol dependence who were residing within intact families and who were not seeking treatment at time of initial assessment. Overall, the LDH was found to reflect adequate stability over this long retest interval for a number of relevant drinking measures, with results providing further support for the instrument's psychometric strengths. Limits on the generalizability of these findings and future research needs are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Research and Development, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Menlo Park, CA, USA. tjacob@pgsp.edu
authors.forename: Theodore
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.forename: Ruth Ann
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Seilhamer
authors.forename: Kay
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bargeil
authors.forename: Donelle N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Howell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires