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The study investigates the distribution of chronotypes among alcohol-dependent subjects and the relationship between personality and chronotype. Fifty-eight alcohol-dependent patients and 29 age-matched healthy controls were studied using Ogińska's Chronotype Questionnaire (ChQ), Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire - Revised (EPQ-R), Selzer's Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) and a sociodemographic status questionnaire designed by the authors. The alcohol-dependent patients tended to be morning type, based on the morningness-eveningness ChQ scale, with a weakly marked rhythm, based on the distinctness ChQ scale. Preference towards morningness was associated with older age, but no relation between chronotype and severity of alcohol dependence was found. A high amplitude of the rhythm was associated with higher neuroticism. Therefore, despite being in the minority, patients with a distinct circadian rhythm (i.e. with a high amplitude) are at greater risk of mood and anxiety disorders and hence should be given special consideration.

ABS TRACT: Clinical characteristics of euthymic bipolar disorder patients comorbid with alcohol and drug use disorders and psychometric properties of the assessment tools Objective: The primary objective of this study was to identify the frequency of alcohol and drug use disorder -abuse or dependence- (ADUD) in bipolar disorder patients who were followed in a specialized mood disorders unit and to investigate the clinical characteristics of the sample. Secondary aim of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the scales related with alcohol and drug use disorder among bipolar patients in remission. Methods: Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT), and Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) were applied to 292 bipolar disorder patients in the euthymic state, diagnosed by using mood disorder and alcohol/drug use disorder modules of the Structured Clinical Interview Form for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I) and monitored in our Mood Disorders Center. Results: In our sample, frequency of bipolar disorder patients with ADUD was 6.16% (18/292). 15 of 18 patients with ADUD were men and 3 were women. ADUD in men (12.00%) was higher than in women (1.79%), and this difference was statistically significant (p

This study investigated differences in alcohol use, family of origin, and social support between a sample of adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs, 25 males and 25 females), and a sample of adult children of non-alcoholics (non-ACOAs, 25 males and 25 females). Participants completed a battery of tests: a demographic questionnaire, the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test, the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test, the Family of Origin Scale, and the Dimension of Social Support Scale. Analysis of variance revealed that the two groups differed on alcohol consumption and family of origin, with ACOAs reporting significantly less alcohol use, and non-ACOAs reporting healthier families of origin. The findings indicate that not all ACOAs abuse alcohol or struggle with social or behavioural problems.

Research regarding gender differences in alcohol use and alcohol-related problems finds that men drink more and suffer higher rates of alcohol-related problems compared with women. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether these differences also exist between lesbians and gay men. A sample of 335 lesbians and gay men were recruited through lesbian and gay events, Listservs, and friendship networks. Items from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2000) measured alcohol consumption. The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (Selzer, 1971) and the Drinker Inventory of Consequences (Miller, Tonigan, & Longabaugh, 1995) measured alcohol-related problems. Gay men tended to drink more often than lesbians, but there were no significant gender differences regarding alcohol-related problems. Research, theoretical, and clinical implications are discussed.

This exploratory study examines the potential relationship between parenting stress, child maltreatment, and alcoholism in a pilot data set. Twenty-four participants (six African-American, six European-American, six Mexican-American, and six Native-American) completed four questionnaires (Parenting Stress Index, Conflict Tactics Scale Parent-Child, Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test, Chemical Dependency Assessment Profile [PSI, CTSPC, MAST, and CDAP]). Through principle component analyses and multiple regression analyses, it was suggested that self-perceived parenting strength or competence directly affect a parent's tactics to deal with parent-child conflicts. Results indicated that self-confidence as a competent parent was related to the frequency of using verbal degrading and physical punishment. Parents who reported that the child's temperament bothers them a lot were more likely to physically abuse the child. Though all the participants could be categorized as alcoholic by the MAST, parents'...

The Alcohol Use Disorders and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedules' (AUDADIS) DSM-IV related items are used to evaluate the convergent validity of the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SAD-Q), the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) with persons convicted for multiple offences of driving under the influence. A total of 187 participants underwent semi-structured interviewing; of these 84% were alcohol dependent. The instruments exhibit acceptable internal consistency (all alphas > .85) as well as test/re-test reliability (all r = s ≥ .85). The MAST converged most closely with a DSM-IV diagnosis. Implications for rapid assessment instrument research as well as practice in public agencies are discussed.

This study extends the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST; M I, Selzer, 1971) literature base by examining 4 issues related to the validity of the MAST scores. Specifically, the authors ex a ...

The purpose of this paper is to review empirical data on currently used alcoholism screening instruments. It is the contention of this article that current established instruments have incorporated items significantly more characteristic of males' alcoholism or late stage problem drinking of women. They omit areas more germane to women's life course experiences, such as reproductive health issues and exposure to physical and sexual abuse. Indicators more appropriate for detecting problem drinking in women are proposed.

Eighty-two hospitalized alcoholics receiving pharmacological aversion therapy (PAT) over a 10-day treatment interval completed cognitive, behavioral, and psychophysiological measures evaluating conditioned aversion to alcohol. Pre-post assessments provided convergent support for the efficacy of PAT vis-à-vis production of conditioned aversion to alcohol. Positive alcohol-related outcome expectancies were significantly reduced, whereas confidence that drinking could be avoided in various high-risk situations for consumption was increased following PAT. Behavioral and cardiac rate assessments revealed significant changes following PAT that were specific to alcoholic beverages and potentially reflective of conditioned alcohol aversion. Patients with more extensive pretreatment experiences with alcohol-associated nausea and greater involvement in antisocial conduct appeared to be less susceptible to the PAT conditioning protocol.

Although only a handful of studies have examined alcoholism among lesbians, high rates of alcoholism among lesbians are often reported. This study investigated the prevalence of alcoholism and its ...

The performance of alcohol use disorder screening instruments (CAGE, BMAST, AUDIT, TWEAK) at various cut points were compared between a Mexican American emergency room (ER) sample (n = 586) and a sample of ER patients in Mexico (n = 1,417) using ICD-10 and DSM-IV criteria for alcohol dependence and harmful drinking/abuse by gender and injury status. Lowering cut points improved instrument performance substantially for females in both samples. Further research is needed to explore instrument performance by gender and level of acculturation.

Although there is general consensus that self-report measures are reliable in offspring identification of parental problem drinking, studies in which these measures are used differ in two important ways: 1) different self-report measures are used across investigations, and 2) when identical measures are used, idiosyncratic cutoff criteria are employed. The purpose of this study was to compare five self-report measures commonly used in college-age populations to identify problem-drinking parents. When the most conservative criterion was employed, each of the five measures identified similar percentages of offspring as having problem-drinking parents (10% for fathers and 4% for mothers). Interrelationships among the five measures were examined, and each method appeared to contribute both to the common and unique variance of the construct "parental problem drinking." Therefore no one measure can capture all aspects of a parent's drinking problem as reported by their offspring.

SUMMARY This study addressed two related questions concerning screening processes for convicted drinking-drivers: first, do these individuals falsify information to avoid detection; and second, do non-obvious indicators improve the ability to detect potential recidivists? Two samples of New York State Drinking Driver Program (DDP) participants were used. The first consisted of 1,592 first-time drinking-driving offenders who completed the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) and RIA Self Inventory (RIASI) screening instruments under confidential conditions. The second sample of 513 first-time offenders completed these instruments under normal screening conditions. The MAST contains 25 items that are directly associated with alcohol-related problems. In contrast, the RIASI contains 15 alcohol-related items associated with alcohol beliefs, family history for alcohol problems, and drinking practices, and 31 non-obvious or more distal items that reflect areas associated with alcohol or drug problems. Rela...

The objectives of this study were to determine the incidence of psychopathy among an alcoholic offender population by utilizing the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), and to compare psychopathic and non-psychopathic alcoholics in relation to childhood history, demographic, alcohol dependence, violence, and suicide variables in order to determine how the groups differ, A sample of 128 alcoholic offenders (64 men and 64 women) incarcerated in the Massachusetts state prison system were interviewed and administered the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test, the Alcohol Dependence Scale, and the PCL-R. Twenty percent of the alcoholic offenders could be classified as psychopaths according to PCL-R results. Psychopathic alcoholics were more alcohol dependent and engaged in more violent crimes. The PCL-R is thus a useful diagnostic tool to reduce the number of false positive ASPD diagnoses among acting out alcoholics. Psychopathic alcoholics require treatment aimed at reducing their severe alcohol depen...

Alcohol use and associated factors were studied in 124 consecutive cocaine-dependent admissions to an outpatient substance abuse clinic. Two analyses were conducted: First, those who did and did not meet criteria for current alcohol dependence were compared on sociodemographic and drug use characteristics. Second, patients who reported simultaneous cocaine and alcohol use on50% vs.or = 50% of the occasions that they used cocaine were compared using the same dependent measures. Fifty-seven percent of patients met criteria for current alcohol dependence. Those with and without alcohol dependence did not differ on any sociodemographic characteristics, but those with dependence scored higher on the alcohol and family subscales of the Addiction Severity Index, the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test, and measures of alcohol use, and were more likely to use cocaine and alcohol simultaneously, to use cocaine with friends and in social settings, and were more likely to report financial difficulties and unwanted sexual relations as adverse consequences of their cocaine use. Sixty-four percent of patients reported50% simultaneous cocaine and alcohol use. The two groups did not differ on any sociodemographic characteristics, but those reporting greater simultaneous use were more likely to be alcoholic, scored higher on most measures of alcohol use, and were more likely to report using cocaine with friends and in social settings. The only other differences observed between the two groups were fewer reports of seizures or difficulty concentrating in the group reporting greater simultaneous use. The present results confirm prior reports on the widespread prevalence of alcohol dependence among cocaine-dependent patients and extend them by providing new information on the prevalence and other characteristics of simultaneous cocaine and alcohol use.

This study examined the accuracy of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) for indicating alcohol use disorder in a sample of patients hospitalized for depression. The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), with its established validity, was considered a good criterion against which to evaluate the DIS, and preferable to the clinician-assigned diagnosis in this regard. The rates of alcoholism in the sample were 31, 33, and 22.5% as yielded by the DIS, MAST, and physician's diagnosis of alcohol disorder, respectively. (The lower rate for physician's diagnosis may be due to the physician's not applying this diagnosis to recovered or currently abstinent alcohol patients.) Using the MAST's standard cutoff of five points as indicative of alcoholism, agreement with the DIS occurred in 91% of the cases, corresponding to a product moment coefficient of .79. It was concluded that the DIS alcoholism scale could be used, with reasonable confidence in its validity, for assessing alcoholism in psychiatric settings.

A procedure for overcoming denial in problem drinking college students is presented. Based on research suggesting that negative consequences due to drinking are a reflection of alcohol misuse, the paper recommends an assertive intervention strategy. By using a standardized assessment device, the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test, explicitly extracted from a compendium of psychological tests, students are confronted with an objective measure of the students' alcohol use.

A total of 189 consecutive new women patients were surveyed at an adult psychiatric outpatient clinic which did not have a specific program for the treatment of alcoholics. Twenty-seven patients (14%) reported a history of heavy alcohol consumption measured by scores of 10 or more on the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), but only 16 had a diagnosis of alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence made by a clinician. Those with a self-reported history of physical and/or sexual abuse had significantly higher scores on the MAST than those with no such history. When the first abuse occurred before the age of 18 years and there was no recent reported abuse, the association of abuse and high MAST scores persisted, suggesting that early physical or sexual abuse may be associated with current levels of alcohol use.

Members of a community-based anxiety disorders self-help group were administered the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST). Thirty percent of 63 individuals diagnosed as agoraphobic, thirty-three percent of 12 respondents with panic disorder and zero percent of persons suffering from generalized anxiety disorder scored in the alcoholic range of the MAST. The results replicate those obtained from clinical samples of agoraphobics.

The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) was administered to 214 admissions to a maximum security ward of a prison hospital. Over 70.7% of the patients had scores greater than 5 and 57.8% had scores greater than 10, indicating that they engaged in problem drinking or alcohol misuse before admission. Older patients had higher scores, and a small number of patients with no criminal involvement had lower scores.

The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) has been validated on a wide range of American drinkers. In this study the MAST was administered to four groups of New Zealand males: 100 hospitalized alcoholics, 100 psychiatric inpatients, 70 convicted drinking drivers, and 55 social drinkers. All the diagnosed alcoholics scored in the test's alcoholic range, as did 83% of the drinking drivers. Seventy-six percent of psychiatric patients and 89% of social drinkers scored below 5. The MAST appears to be a valid instrument for use under New Zealand conditions, but the ability to discriminate between alcoholics and problem drinkers would be an added advantage.