title: Utility of the Athlete Drinking Scale for assessing drinking motives among high school athletes.
abstract: Research suggests that high school athletes are at greater risk for heavy alcohol use and alcohol-related problems than their non-athlete peers. Drinking motives unique to the athletic experience may contribute to elevated use. The Athlete Drinking Scale (ADS) was designed to assess sport-related motives for alcohol use, but has not yet been validated among high school athletes. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the ADS among a sample of high school athletes. Participants were 216 high school student-athlete drinkers who completed anonymous self-report surveys. A confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a revised three-factor solution with a satisfactory overall model fit. Path analyses indicated that the Positive Reinforcement motives subscale was the only ADS subscale that was significantly associated with alcohol use and alcohol-related problems when controlling for the effects of the other factors (i.e., age and gender) in this population. The ADS may be a valuable assessment tool for researchers and clinicians involved in alcohol prevention efforts for high school athletes.
authors.affiliation: University of Missouri, Columbia, United States. Electronic address: tehkw4@mail.missouri.edu.
authors.forename: Tracy E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Herring
authors.affiliation: Smith College, United States.
authors.forename: Byron L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Zamboanga
authors.affiliation: University of New Brunswick, Canada.
authors.forename: Janine V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Olthuis
authors.affiliation: University of Macau, Macau S.A.R., China.
authors.forename: Ivan Jacob Agaloos
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Pesigan
authors.affiliation: University of Albany-SUNY, United States.
authors.forename: Jessica L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: University of Missouri, Columbia, United States.
authors.forename: Nicholas W
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: McAfee
authors.affiliation: University of Missouri, Columbia, United States.
authors.forename: Matthew P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Martens
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D056352:Athletes / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Alcohol; Athletes; Drinking motives; High school