Comparative psychometric study of a range of hazardous drinking measures administered online in a youth population.

AIMS: To compare the psychometric performance of a range of existing alcohol measures when data are collected online with young people, and thereby to gain insights into the reliability and validity of this mode of data collection. METHOD: One hundred and sixty-seven U.K. resident young people aged 16-24 who had drunk alcohol within the past week participated in a cross-sectional psychometric study with a test-retest reliability component. Eight hazardous drinking measures were used: the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) summary instrument and dedicated assessments of consumption (timeline follow-back and diary-format recall of alcohol drunk in the last 7 days), dependence (Leeds dependence questionnaire and severity of dependence scale) and problems (Rutgers alcohol problem index, alcohol problems scale and academic role expectations and alcohol scale). RESULTS: Internal consistency and test-retest correlation statistics were generally satisfactory, providing evidence of reliability. Validation data obtained in principal components analyses, investigation of the correlation matrix and in a multiple regression model of total AUDIT score were also supportive of the online use of these measures. Evidence was weakest for the alcohol problems scale. CONCLUSIONS: A range of hazardous drinking measures exhibit sound psychometric properties when administered online. Further comparative study of the relationships between different measures is needed.