THE CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS SCREENING-TEST (CAST) - TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY AND CONCORDANCE VALIDITY

Authors
Citation
H. Charland et G. Cote, THE CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS SCREENING-TEST (CAST) - TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY AND CONCORDANCE VALIDITY, Journal of clinical psychology, 54(7), 1998, pp. 995-1003
Citations number
18
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Psycology, Clinical
ISSN journal
0021-9762
Volume
54
Issue
7
Year of publication
1998
Pages
995 - 1003
Database
ISI
SICI code
0021-9762(1998)54:7<995:TCOAS(>2.0.ZU;2-U
Abstract
The stability of the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST) has been called into question by several authors( Hart, 1989: Maxwell, 198 5; Schinke, 1989; Stacey, 1985). In a bid to verify these reservations , 376 college students were each evaluated twice by means of the CAST. Results confirm the high reliability and validity of this instrument in identifying grown-up children raised in homes with at least one alc oholic parent. Reliability was demonstrated by good internal consisten cy, high item-total scale correlations, and near perfect test-retest a greement (k = .83). Furthermore, concordance between high CAST scores and satisfaction of recognized criteria for alcohol dependence, as mea sured with the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-III-R (SCID), attests to the CAST's external validity(k = .78). Moreover, factor an alysis shows the instrument to have a unidimensional structure. Finall y, with a cutoff score of 6 or more, the CAST demonstrates excellent s ensitivity and specificity. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.