Self-Reported Drug Use: Results of Selected Empirical Investigations of Validity (From The Validity of Self-Reported Drug Use: Improving the Accuracy of Survey Estimates, P 320-343, 1997, Lana Harrison and Arthur Hughes, eds. - See NCJ 167339)

• NCJ Number: 167353
• Author(s): Y Hser
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 24 pages
• Grant Number(s): K02DA00139; P50DA07699; DA07382
• Contract Number(s): 92-00267
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse; California Dept of Alcohol and Drug Programs
• Sale Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

This article reviews the literature on factors related to quality of self-report data on drug use and discusses two series of empirical studies of the quality of those data.

Abstract

One set of analyses examines the quality of the longitudinal retrospective self-report from narcotics addicts, including validity of recent narcotics use, reliability of various measures, stability of relationships among these measures, and pattern reliability among latent constructs, Results contribute strongly to confidence in the validity of the relationships among these data derived from addicts' self-report. The second set of analyses focuses on validity of self-reported drug use among high-risk groups, including samples from sexually transmitted disease clinics, hospital emergency rooms, and jails. Results suggest that the accuracy of self-report of recent drug use varies by the sample sources, drug types, and subject characteristics. Targeting these high-risk groups may improve prevalence estimation. Empirical validation of self-report is always necessary to enhance the utility of self-report data and to provide means of controlling for potential biases. Tables, references