COMBINING METHODS TO IDENTIFY NEW MEASURES OF WOMENS DRINKING PROBLEMS .2. THE SURVEY STAGE

This is the second of a two-part report on a study aimed at investigat ing novel indicators of drinking problems among women drinkers. The st udy was motivated by the suspicion that most measures of drinking prob lems grew out of studies of male populations with the likelihood that such measures would be less relevant for female drinkers. The first pa rt of this report describes the background for the study and the steps that were taken to generate a short list of ''novel'' indicators whic h were then incorporated into an instrument for a general population s urvey. Using several measures of alcohol consumption as criteria for e valuating the indicators, this paper reports on which indicators may u ncover dimensions of alcohol problems not already subsumed by a standa rd population screen, the CAGE. lit particular, results suggest that i ndicators of ''high capacity for alcohol'', ''seeking out a 'wet' envi ronment'', and ''planning opportunities to drink'' are promising for b oth women and men, with more qualified support for less ''frequent ill ness'' (for women) and ''excessive behavior'' (for men). These results must be viewed within the context of an exploratory study and indicat e avenues for further research.