title: Measurement of alcohol craving.
abstract: Despite considerable research activity and application in treatment, the construct of craving remains poorly understood. We propose that cravings and urges are cognitive-emotional events in time, characterised by frequency, duration, intensity and salience. Commonly used measures of alcohol craving are reviewed, and their strengths and weaknesses identified. Most measures confound craving with behaviours, or with separable cognitive phenomena such as expectancies, intentions, or perceived behavioural control. These confounds have limited our advances in understanding the determinants and consequences of craving. Based on the criteria applied in this review, among the better performing multi-item measures are the Penn Alcohol Craving Scale and Obsessive subscale of the Obsessive-Compulsive Drinking Scale. Optimal assessment strategies are likely to involve daily assessments of peak intensity of cravings, desires or urges and of the frequency and duration of craving episodes. Of particular interest are measures of intensity at times when individuals are at risk of drinking or of other functional impacts from craving.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and School of Psychology & Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, 60 Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove, Queensland 4059, Australia. Electronic address: david.kavanagh@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kavanagh
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Arts and Business, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, 4558, Australia; Alcohol and Drug Assessment Unit, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, Queensland, 4102, Australia.
authors.forename: Dixie J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Statham
authors.affiliation: Alcohol and Drug Assessment Unit, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, Queensland, 4102, Australia; Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research, The University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, 4029, Australia.
authors.forename: Gerald F X
authors.initials: GFX
authors.lastname: Feeney
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and School of Psychology & Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, 60 Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove, Queensland 4059, Australia; Alcohol and Drug Assessment Unit, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, Queensland, 4102, Australia.
authors.forename: Ross McD
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK.
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: May
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK.
authors.forename: Jackie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Andrade
authors.affiliation: Alcohol and Drug Assessment Unit, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, Queensland, 4102, Australia; Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research, The University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, 4029, Australia; Discipline of Psychiatry, The University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, 4029, Australia.
authors.forename: Jason P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Connor
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index