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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Psychol Addict Behav. 2019 Jan 24;33(1):35–49. doi: 10.1037/adb0000443

Table 2.

Alcohol Use Disorder Diagnostic Criteria Symptom Indicators

Alcohol Use Disorder Criterion (N = 546) Measure Base Rate 1PL
Unstandardized
Difficulty Estimate
Rank Standardized
Alpha
(Unstandardi
zed Alpha)

Tolerance

Did you ever find that you could drink a lot more before you got drunk? SSAGA-IV 21.52% 0.91 1
Did you ever find that you could drink a lot more before you passed out? Authors 15.64% 1.15 2
Have you ever drank as much as a fifth of liquor in one day, that would be about 20
drinks, or 3 bottles of wine, or as much as 3 six packs of beer in a single day?
AUDADIS-IV;
AUDADIS-5
8.89% 1.47 3
Mean 15.35% 1.18 0.73(0.73)

Hazardous Use

Have you ever been under the influence of alcohol in a situation where it increased
your chances of getting hurt - e.g., when riding a bicycle, driving, operating
machinery, or anything else?
AUDADIS-IV;
AUDADIS-5
Authors
14.87% 1.27 1
Have you ever been under the influence of alcohol and put yourself in a risky
situation where it increased your chances of being victimized - e.g. being physically
or sexually assaulted, or robbed?
Authors 7.81% 1.75 2
Driven a car when you knew you had too much to drink to drive safely? AUDADIS-5 3.54% 2.25 3
Mean 8.74 % 1.76 0.64(0.64)

Quit/Cut Down

Have you thought that you should quit or cut down on your drinking, whether you tried to or not? Authors 10.24% 1.56 1
Have you ever tried to stop or cut down on your drinking? SSAGA-IV;
AUDADIS-IV
7.42% 1.79 2
Have you tried to stop or cut down on drinking but were unsuccessful? AUDADIS-IV;
AUDADIS-5
2.59% 2.44 3
Mean 6.75% 1.93 0.71(0.71)

Time Spent

Did you ever have a period where you spent a lot of time drinking? AUDADIS-IV;
AUDADIS-5
28.94% 0.72 1
Did you have a period when you spent a lot of time being sick or getting over the bad after-effects of alcohol? AUDADIS-IV;
AUDADIS-5
21.30% 1.03 2
Has there ever been a period of several days or more when you spent so much time
drinking or recovering from the effects of alcohol that you had little time for
anything else?
SSAGA-IV; CIDI 12.43% 1.49 3
Mean 20.89% 1.08 0.60(0.58)

Social/Interpersonal

When drinking, have you said or done things in the presence of others that was regrettable or embarrassing? Authors 28.65% 0.76 1
Have you ever been told that you become rude or obnoxious when drinking? Authors
MAST; SSAGA-
5.74% 2.15 2
Have you ever gotten into physical fights when drinking? IV; AUDADIS-
IV; AUDADIS-5
0.92% 3.29 3
Mean 11.77% 2.07 0.37(0.30)

Larger/Longer

Have you gone out drinking and ended up drinking more than you intended? AUDADIS-IV;
AUDADIS-5
38.93% 0.34 1
Have you gotten drunk when you didn’t mean to? Authors 17.86% 1.12 2
After taking one or two drinks, have you been unable to stop? ADS 13.65% 1.32 3
Mean 23.48% 0.93 0.59(0.58)

Craving

Have you ever had times when you thought about drinking or how good a drink would make you feel? Authors 39.89% 0.30 1
Have you ever gotten impatient when you were ready to have a drink/felt like having a drink and you couldn’t (i.e., situational factors prevented you from drinking at that time)? Authors 7.62% 1.66 2
Have you ever wanted a drink so badly that you couldn’t think of anything else? AUDADIS-5;
SSAGA-IV
2.60% 2.31 3
Mean 16.70% 1.42 0.55(0.40)

Give up

Have you ever felt that activities you used to enjoy without drinking alcohol are now only enjoyable if drinking alcohol is involved? Authors 9.06% 1.52 1
Have you ever given up or cut down on activities that you were interested in or that gave your pleasure in order to drink? AUDADIS-IV;
AUDADIS-5
3.14% 2.14 2
Have you ever had a period of time when alcohol was such a focus that you didn’t even think about the things you usually enjoy doing? Authors 1.85% 2.43 3
Mean 4.68% 2.03 0.65(0.54)

Failure to Fulfill

Was there ever a period when being hungover or sick from drinking interfered with your responsibilities at work, school, or at home? CIDI 10.91% 1.31 1
Was there ever a period when your drinking or being intoxicated interfered with your responsibilities at work, school, or at home? CIDI; SSAGA-IV;
AUDADIS-IV;
AUDADIS-5
5.38% 1.68 2
Have you ever gotten into trouble at work, home, or school because of being hungover or being sick from drinking? Authors 3.34% 1.90 3
Mean 6.54% 1.63 0.59(0.58)

Physical/Psychological

Have you ever continued to drink when feeling overwhelmed or burnt out even though you knew drinking would make you feel worse? Authors 7.61% 1.60 1
Have you ever continued to drink alcohol despite having a physical illness or psychological problem that gets worse with drinking? CIDI 5.19% 1.81 2
Have you ever continued to drink when you knew you had a serious physical illness that might be made worse by drinking? SSAGA-IV; CIDI 3.33% 2.02 3
Mean 5.38% 1.81 0.65(0.62)

Withdrawal

After drinking alcohol, did you EVER take a drink or use any drug or medicine, OTHER THAN aspirin, Advil or Tylenol, to GET OVER any bad after effects of drinking? AUDADIS-IV;
AUDADIS-5
11.38% 1.40 1
Were you unable to sleep? SSAGA-IV 2.25% 2.27 2
Find yourself shaking (when the effects of alcohol were wearing off)? AUDADIS-IV 1.12% 2.62 3
Mean 4.92% 2.10 0.54(0.32)

Note. 1PL = one-parameter logistic. Relative rank: 1 = low, 2= medium, and 3 = high severity. Larger/Longer = “Alcohol is taken in larger amounts or over longer periods than was intended;” Time Spent = “A great deal of time is spent in activities necessary to obtain alcohol, use alcohol, or recover from its effects;” Quit/Cut Down = “There is a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control alcohol use;” Craving = “Craving, or a strong desire or urge to use alcohol;” Failure to Fulfill = “Recurrent alcohol use resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations at work, school, or home;” Give Up = “Important social, occupational, or recreational activities given up or reduced because of alcohol use;” Hazardous Use = “Recurrent alcohol use in situations in which it is physically hazardous.” Physical/Psychological = “Alcohol use is continued despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent physical or psychological problem that is likely to have been caused or exacerbated by alcohol.” Tolerance = “Tolerance, as defined by either of the following: (a) A need for markedly increased amounts of alcohol to achieve intoxication or desired effect (b) A markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of alcohol.” Withdrawal = “Withdrawal, as manifested by either of the following: (a) The characteristic withdrawal syndrome for alcohol, (b) Alcohol (or a closely related substance, such as benzodiazepine) is taken to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms.” Social/Interpersonal = “Continued alcohol use despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by the effects of alcohol.” AUDADIS-IV = Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule-IV (Grant, Dawson, & Hasin, 2001); AUDADIS-5 = Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule-5 (Grant et al., 2011); SSAGA-IV = Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism-IV (Reich, Herjanic, Welner,& Gandhy, 1982); CIDI = Composite International Diagnostic Interview (Robins et al., 1989; Cottler, 2000); MAST = Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (Selzer, 1971); ADS = Alcohol Dependence Scale (Skinner & Allen, 1982); OCDS = Obsessive-Compulsive Drinking Scale (Kranzler, Mulgrew, Modesto-Lowe & Burleson, 1999); AUQ = Alcohol Urge Questionnaire (Bohn, Krahn, & Staehler, 1995); SADD = Short Alcohol Dependence Data Questionnaire (Raistrick, Dunbar, & Davidson, 1983). Authors = created by authors.