Identifying adult children of alcoholics: methodological review and a comparison of the CAST‐6 with other methods

Methods of identifying adult children of alcoholics are described and their psychometric properties are reviewed. These methods include self‐report single questions and questionnaires and interview schedules. The CAST‐6, a shortened version of the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test, is compared with a variety of these methods. The CAST‐6 is confirmed as a useful brief screening measure. It was shown to be internally reliable, have good retest reliability and to agree well with other measures. Using a face to face interview as the comparison standard, however, a number of single questions performed equally as well as the CAST‐6 and other more complex methods.