@article{ref1,
title="An item-response theory analysis of DSM-IV alcohol-use disorder criteria and "binge" drinking in undergraduates",
journal="Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs",
year="2010",
author="Beseler, Cheryl L. and Taylor, Lloyd Adam and Leeman, Robert F.",
volume="71",
number="3",
pages="418-423",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: This is the first study to examine the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), criteria for alcohol-use disorders and heavy episodic (or &quot;binge&quot;) drinking in a college sample using item-response theory (IRT) analysis. IRT facilitates assessment of the severity of the criteria, their ability to distinguish between those at greatest and lowest risk, and the value of adding a &quot;binge&quot; drinking criterion. METHOD: In a sample of undergraduate drinkers (n = 353), we conducted factor analyses to determine whether the criteria best fit a one- or two-factor structure. We then conducted IRT analyses to obtain item-characteristic curves indicating the probability of endorsing a criterion at increasing levels of alcohol-use-disorder risk. These analyses were first conducted including current (i.e., past-year) DSM-IV alcohol-use-disorder criteria only and then rerun adding weekly &quot;binge&quot; drinking. RESULTS: A single-factor model of the DSM-IV criteria did not differ significantly from a two-factor model. After including &quot;binge&quot; drinking, two factors fit the data slightly better than one factor but with a dominant single factor. Withdrawal was the most severe criterion, whereas tolerance and &quot;larger/longer&quot; were the least severe. Time spent drinking and a combined social/legal difficulties criterion had the best ability to discriminate those at greatest and lowest risk for an alcohol-use disorder. &quot;Binge&quot; drinking showed both low discrimination and low severity. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine DSM-IV criteria in an undergraduate sample using IRT. In this sample, abuse and dependence were intermixed on a continuum of severity, and &quot;binge&quot; drinking was in the least severe region.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1937-1888",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}