Validity of the AUDIT-C screen for at-risk drinking among students utilizing university primary care

ABSTRACT

Objective: Research is needed to establish the psychometric properties of brief screens in university primary care settings. This study aimed to assess the construct validity of one such screen, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C), for detecting at-risk drinking among students who have utilized on-campus primary care.

Participants: 389 students recently seen in university primary care completed a confidential online survey in December 2014.

Methods: Bivariate correlations between the AUDIT-C and measures of alcohol consumption and negative drinking consequences provided concurrent evidence for construct validity. Receiver Operating Characteristic curve analyses determined optimal cut-off scores for at-risk drinking.

Results: The AUDIT-C significantly correlated with measures of alcohol consumption and negative drinking consequences (p < .001). Analyses support optimal AUDIT-C cut-off scores of 5 for females and 7 for males.

Conclusions: The AUDIT-C is a valid screen for at-risk drinking among students who utilize university primary care.     

The Regulation of Out-of-Home Care

The regulation of out-of-home care in Australia has become increasinglyformalized and detailed, partly driven by a recent wave of auditsof abuse in foster-care. The emergence and possible consequencesof this increased regulation are examined, with a particularfocus on relative care. A pluralist–democratic approachto accountability would involve a regulatory regime linked toother quality strategies, with the emphasis on improved qualityand outcomes rather than compliance with policy and procedures.The concentration on expanding the regulatory regime is contrastedwith more limited efforts to improve carer support—anessential ingredient of an effective foster-care system.     

Marital Satisfaction and Maternal Emotional Expressiveness: Links with Children's Sibling Relationships

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Known, Unknown, and Unknowable Uncertainties

In normative decision theory, the weight of an uncertain event in a decision is governed solely by the probability of the event. A large body of empirical research suggests that a single notion of probability does not accurately capture peoples' reactions to uncertainty. As early as the 1920s, Knight made the distinction between cases where probabilities are known and where probabilities are unknown. We distinguish another case –- the unknowable uncertainty –- where the missing information is unavailable to all. We propose that missing information influences the attractiveness of a bet contingent upon an uncertain event, especially when the information is available to someone else. We demonstrate that the unknowable uncertainty –- falls in preference somewhere in between the known and the known uncertainty.     

Family Emotional Processes and Adolescents' Adjustment

This study examined associations between parents' emotion coaching and emotional expressiveness, and adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The sample included 131 16‐year‐olds and their mothers and fathers. Adolescents completed an open‐ended interview about their parents' emotion coaching. Adolescents rated parents' negative emotional expressiveness, and parents and adolescents reported on adolescents' adjustment. Results indicated that mothers were more accepting and supportive of their children's expression of negative emotions than were fathers. Parents' coaching of emotions was associated with fewer adolescents' internalizing symptoms and was unrelated to their externalizing symptoms. Parents' negative emotional expressiveness was positively linked to adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Parents' emotion coaching and negative emotional expressiveness explained unique variance in adolescents' internalizing symptoms. Results highlight the importance of the family's emotional climate for adolescents' well‐being.     

Value of Self-Disclosure to Parents and Peers During Adolescence

Self-disclosure is a crucial part of developing close interpersonal relationships during adolescence. In particular, sharing information with a greater depth of intimacy is thought to strengthen social bonds and thus support mental health. The current study investigated the value for different depths of self-disclosures to close others (mothers and best friends) during adolescence and its association with mental health and well-being. Fifty-four girls (11.0–15.9 years) completed a forced-choice monetary paradigm to assess value for self-disclosures and questionnaires on mental health. Participants significantly valued (i.e., forfeited monetary reward) for disclosures to both mothers and best friends, although intimate disclosures were more “costly” than superficial disclosures. Greater value for intimate self-disclosures to mothers was also associated with better mental health and well-being.