Modern assessment of risky drinking in college students

This study examined the assessment of Risky Drinking in college students. The term Risky Drinking was operationally defined as unhealthy drinking habits that have social or physiological consequences that do not reach clinical levels defined by the DSM-IV. This study added items to the College Alcohol Problem Scale-Revised (CAPS-r) constructed by Dr. O’Hare in 1997 to measure Risky Drinking habits in undergraduate students. The original CAPS-r measurement was constructed almost 20 years ago and does not include modern behaviors such as texting, calling, or posting on social media while intoxicated. Three new items were added to the original eight items on the CAPS-r scale to measure technology-related behaviors. Participants responded to this modified scale, the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), and demographic information. I hypothesized that reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) for the new scale with 11 items will remain consistent and not be significantly lower than the original scale. In addition, I hypothesized that the external validity might significantly increase with the addition of the three items. This revised scale could become a potential resource for college counseling centers and students to quickly identify problem behavior and seek resources if needed. Keywords: alcohol, college students, assessment, risky drinking, alcohol abuse