How do college students estimate their drinking? Comparing consumption patterns among quantity-frequency, graduated frequency, and timeline follow-back methods

Abstract

This exploratory study was designed to compare several commonly used measures of alcohol use among college students in order to appreciate how estimations of college drinking may be affected by the type of assessment tool used. Consumption patterns of 42 college student drinkers were compared using a quantity-frequency measure, a graduated frequency measure, and a timeline follow-back (TLFB) interview. Within subject repeated measures were used to compare drinking variables across the two self-report measures and the interview procedure. The results showed that both the specificity of the measure, as well as the type of administration, result in significant differences on variables that describe the quantity of alcohol consumed. Measures of frequency appeared to be less dependent on these assessment factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR].