Nondaily Drinkers Score Higher On the Alcohol Dependence Scale than Daily Drinkers

Author(s)

Linda D. Wood, Nova Southeastern University
Linda C. Sobell, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Mark B. Sobell, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Liane Dornheim, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Sangeeta Agrawal, University of Nebraska Medical CenterFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Addictive Behaviors

ISSN

0306-4603

Publication Date

3-2003

Abstract

To evaluate the relationship between drinking pattern and alcohol dependence severity, 209 individuals voluntarily seeking treatment for alcohol problems were administered the Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADS), the Short Alcohol Dependence Data (SADD) questionnaire, and a 12-month Timeline Follow-Back (TLFB) drinking assessment as part of their pretreatment assessment. Based on their TLFB data, participants were divided into two groups: daily (DD, n=84) and nondaily (NDD, n=125) drinkers. The two groups were compared on several demographic and drinking variables. It was hypothesized that DD would have higher scores on measures of alcohol dependence than NDD. However, the reverse pattern was found. The NDD had significantly higher ADS scores than the DD. An analysis of ADS subscale scores indicated that the primary difference between the two groups was in the domain of loss of behavior control. It is suggested that NDD may perceive intoxication as more impairing, perhaps because they have acquired less tolerance than DD. These results suggest that treatment focused on restoring a sense of behavior control would be beneficial for NDD.

DOI

10.1016/S0306-4603(01)00224-6

Volume

28

Issue

2

First Page

347

Last Page

352

NSUWorks Citation

Wood, L. D., Sobell, L. C., Sobell, M. B., Dornheim, L., Agrawal, S. (2003). Nondaily Drinkers Score Higher On the Alcohol Dependence Scale than Daily Drinkers. Addictive Behaviors, 28(2), 347-352.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/109