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Can one simple questionnaire assess substance‐related and behavioural addiction problems? Results of a proposed new screener for community epidemiology
Author(s) -
Schluter Magdalen G.,
Hodgins David C.,
Wolfe Jody,
Wild T. Cameron
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1111/add.14166
Subject(s) - addiction , psychology , clinical psychology , cannabis , population , convergent validity , behavioral addiction , criterion validity , psychometrics , psychiatry , construct validity , medicine , internal consistency , environmental health
Abstract Background and aims There is currently no well‐validated measure that assesses a broad spectrum of substance‐related and behavioural addictions in general populations. This study aimed to develop a brief self‐attribution Screener for Substance and Behavioural Addictions (SSBA) to screen for four substances and six behaviours, and to compare its performance with established individual‐behaviour screening instruments. Design A small, psychometrically optimal set of items to assess self‐attributed indicators of addiction across alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, cocaine, gambling, shopping, videogaming, overeating, sexual activity and overworking were identified from a broader pool that was developed using a lay epidemiology qualitative approach . The suitability of the four‐item single‐factor solution was tested for each behaviour and scores were compared with those obtained from the sample using individual‐behaviour screening instruments. Setting and Participants Participants ( n = 6000), broadly representative of the Canadian English‐speaking adult population, were recruited through the Ipsos Reid Canadian Online Panel. Measurements Participants completed an item pool of 15 indicators of addiction for each target behaviour and a validation instrument for one randomly assigned behaviour. Findings A set of four items identified using principal component and confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated good fit and excellent internal consistency (α = 0.87–0.95) across behaviours, and good convergent validity ( r s = 0.44–0.8) with extant instruments measuring similar constructs, with only one exception ( r = 0.26). Conclusions The proposed Screener for Substance and Behavioural Addiction is a reliable and valid measure assessing the lay public's self‐attributed indicators of addiction across 10 substances and behaviours.