|
Abstract
|
Since alcoholism is implicated as a causal factor in a large proportion of traffic deaths, it is important to develop tools for detecting the alcoholic driver.
Because of the large population to be screened, a simple, self-administering, objective questionnaire is the most promising approach. Its purpose must not be obvious.
Four hundred fifty-two items were chosen from several existing psychological tests which had shown promise in detection of alcoholics. These were administered to hospitalized alcoholics and to a control group of nonprofessional workers. Two hundred fifty-three items significantly discriminated between groups. Fifty-six of these dealt directly with drinking.
These items were cross-validated using fresh samples. The drinking items were omitted from some of the questionnaires as a check on their influence n responses to the remaining items. This version of the questionnaire discriminated well. The non-drinking items showed satisfactory discrimination, though poorer than the drinking items. A consistent sex difference in the test scores was apparent.
The test was refined by selecting the 53 most strongly discriminating nondrinking items. The responses of the cross-validation groups were rescored for these items only. Separate analyses were done for males and females. This short version discriminated somewhat better than the 197 nondrinking items used the cross-validation. |