Description
Date Created2007
Other Date2007 (degree)
Extentv, 68 pages
DescriptionThe current study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Drinking Patterns Questionnaire (DPQ; Zitter & McCrady, 1979), a self-report instrument designed to identify high-risk drinking situations. The DPQ consists of 189 items representing possible drinking antecedents from eight distinct categories: Work-Related, Financial, Physiological, Interpersonal, Marital, Parents, Children, and Emotional. While prior research has supported the construct validity of the Physiological, Interpersonal, Marital, and Emotional subscales (Zweig, 2005), no validation studies have been conducted on the remaining subscales. The primary aim of the current study was to evaluate the construct validity of the Work-Related, Financial, Parents, and Children subscales of the DPQ. This evaluation was conducted via analyses of convergence between DPQ subscales scores and scores on correlate measures of the same or similar construct. A secondary aim was to evaluate the internal consistency of all eight DPQ subscales. Participants were 134 adult residents of an inpatient substance abuse treatment center who scored [greater than or equal to] 9 on the Alcohol Dependence Scale (a marker highly predictive of DSM-IV diagnosis of alcohol dependence; Chantarujikapong, Smith, & Fox, 1997). The mean age of participants was 40.0 (SD = 11.4), 48.5% were female, 94.8% were Caucasian, and 59.7% were employed. Five group administrations were conducted with approximately 30 residents participating on each occasion. Upon providing informed consent, participants completed a demographics questionnaire, the DPQ, and the four correlate measures corresponding to each DPQ subscale under evaluation. Results indicated that DPQ subscales evidenced adequate to strong internal consistency (i.e., coefficient alphas ranging from .691 to .921). Pearson's r correlations were then used to evaluate subscale convergent validity and significant correlations were found between scores on the Work-Related (n = 89, r = -.213, p [less than] .05), Financial (n = 130, r = .423, p [less than] .001), and Children (n = 62, r = -.510, p [less than] .001) subscales and scores on their respective correlate measures. Findings for the validity of the Parents subscale were mixed. Overall, study results provide strong evidence of construct validity for the Financial and Children subscales and modest evidence for the Work-Related subscale, and indicate that all DPQ subscales exhibit solid internal consistency.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references (p. 38-41).
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
LanguageEnglish
CollectionGraduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.