Validation of the 30-day version of the Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire for use in longitudinal studies

Abstract

Objective: The Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (B-YAACQ) was developed using item response modeling to provide a brief and readily interpretable measure of negative alcohol consequences over the past year among college students. The purpose of the present study was to extend evaluation of the B-YAACQ by examining its psychometric properties when administered to college students cited for a university alcohol violation using a past 30-day time frame of assessment.

Method: The B-YAACQ was administered at baseline and at a 6-week follow-up to 291 students cited for a university alcohol violation. Reliability and validity analyses, in addition to Rasch model analyses, were conducted using these data.

Results: Results demonstrated that the B-YAACQ was internally consistent, showed strong unidimensionality and additive properties, displayed minimal item redundancy and minimal floor or ceiling effects, was reliable over a 6-week period, and was sensitive to change in drinking following an alcohol intervention. In addition, the relative severity of items was preserved over time and generally consistent with results from an earlier study.

Conclusions: The 30-day B-YAACQ seems valid for use with college students who have received an alcohol violation and for use in evaluating changes in alcohol consequences.

Figures

Figure 1

Plots of item severity estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CI) from differential item functioning (DIF) analyses comparing estimates obtained at baseline to those obtained at 6-weeks and those obtained by Kahler et al. (2005). Items that fall below the lower 95% CI reflect that these items were relatively less severe at baseline relative to their respective comparison estimates; items that fall above the upper 95% CI reflect that the items were relatively more severe at baseline relative to their respective comparison estimates. Items with significant DIF are labeled according to the item content.