title: Validation of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test in university students: AUDIT and AUDIT-C.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT and AUDIT-C) in order to detect problems related to the consumption of alcohol in the university population. The sample consisted of 1309 students.A Weekly Alcohol Consumption Diary was used as a gold standard; Cronbach's Alpha, the Kappa index, Spearman's correlation coefficient and exploratory factor analysis were applied for diagnostic reliability and validity, with ROC curves used to establish the different cut-off points. Binge Drinking (BD) episodes were found in 3.9% of men and 4.0% of women with otherwise low-risk drinking patterns. AUDIT identified 20.1% as high-risk drinkers and 6.4% as drinkers with physical-psychological problems and probable alcohol dependence.Cronbach's alpha of 0.75 demonstrates good internal consistency. The best cut-off points for high-risk drinking students were 8 for males and 6 for females. As for problem drinkers and probable ADS, 13 was the best cut-off point for both sexes. In relation to AUDIT-C, 5 and 4 were the best cut-off points for males and females with high-risk patterns, respectively. The criterion validity of AUDIT and AUDIT-C to detect binge drinking episodes was found to have a moderate K value. The results obtained show that AUDIT has good psychometric properties to detect early alcohol abuse disorders in university students; however, it is recommended that the cut-off point be reduced to 8 in men. AUDIT-C improves its predictive value by raising the cut-off point by one unit. Items 2 and 3 should be reviewed to increase its predictive value for BD.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Cádiz. miguel.garcia.carretero@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Miguel Ángel
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: García Carretero
authors.forename: José Pedro
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Novalbos Ruiz
authors.forename: José Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Martínez Delgado
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: O'Ferrall González
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000067292:Alcohol Drinking in College; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult