NCJ Number
187826
Date Published
1978
Length
13 pages
Annotation
One of the most severe handicaps confronted by psycho-social investigators within the alcohol/drug field is the absence of adequate measures of drug use.
Abstract
This article first describes and explores the reasons for the lack of adequate measures; next, the role that the concept of "control" has played in the alcohol and drug literature is reviewed, and "control style" is introduced as a potentially important addition to the standard measures of drug use; finally, results from a community survey that used both the proposed measure of control style and a standard measure of drug use are presented to document empirically the utility of the control measure. The study consisted of a systematic random household survey of the Boston Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area in 1976. A total of 1,087 face-to-face interviews were conducted with adults (18 years or older) randomly selected from each household in the sample. Interview questions covered use of a wide range of substances (common snacks, deserts, and drinks, tobacco, alcohol, nonprescription and prescription medications, and illicit drugs). A measure of how people control the amounts of drugs they use has been introduced as a supplement to existing measures of drug use. Results from the preliminary test of the control style measure show that patterns of responses on the new measure are consistent, and they are related to responses from other measures in a meaningful way; and information provided by the new measure complements information obtained from traditional measures of drug use. Consequently, the most sensible strategy in studying drug use is to employ both traditional measures and a measure of control style. In sum, the new measure of control style is apparently a valuable addition to the tools available for studying drug use. An important qualification is that the new scale is still in the exploratory stage and obviously requires further development. 1 table and 55 references