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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Edessa C. Jobli, MPH, CHES, Chudley E. Werch, PhD, Michele J. Moore, PhD, and Deborah M. Owen, MSH, CHES. Center for Drug Prevention Research, University of North Florida, 4567 St. Johns Bluff Road South, Jacksonville, FL 32224, (904) 620-2847, ejobli@unf.edu
The purpose of this study was to: 1) compare self-reports of alcohol use using single-item alcohol questions versus multiple-item alcohol and drug questions; and 2) determine whether positioning of single-item alcohol measures at the beginning and multiple-item alcohol and drug questions at end (version 1) versus multiple-item questions presented at the beginning and single-item questions presented at the end (version 2) of the survey affect self-reports of alcohol use. Participants included 6th grade students (n=107) from a middle school in Northeast Florida. An anonymous survey was used to collect data on student’s lifetime, last year and last 30-day alcohol use. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive version 1 or 2 of the survey. Both versions included identical questions. Chi-square analyses of similar items across versions indicated that students were more likely to report more lifetime and 30-day alcohol use on single-item than multiple-item questions (p’s <. 01). Students receiving version 1 reported more use on all alcohol measures than version 2 (p’s <. 05). These results indicated that embedding alcohol use questions with other drugs might reduce reports of alcohol use. In addition, placing single-item questions in the beginning of a survey appears to have increased self-reports of alcohol use.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Alcohol, Survey
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.