A PSYCHOMETRIC ASSESSMENT OF THE CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS SCREENING-TEST (CAST)

Objective: Children of alcoholics have been identified as an at-risk p opulation for a number of physical, emotional and behavioral problems. Therefore, accurate identification of this potential client group is important for both prevention and intervention programming. The curren t study investigated the psychometric properties of the Children of Al coholics Screening Test (CAST), which was developed as an assessment t ool for identifying latency-age, adolescent and adult children of alco holics. Method: Respondents were recruited through the use of nominati onal sampling methods for participation in this cross-sectional study. The study sample was composed of 65 male and 149 female respondents, including both adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) and adults reared in non-substance-abusing homes (non-ACOAs). Both ACOA (n = 140) and no n-ACOA (n = 74) groups included clinical and nonclinical subjects. Res pondents completed a mailed, self-report survey that included the CAST , five other standardized instruments measuring family and personal fu nctioning, and sociodemographic questions. Results: Study findings ind icated that the CAST is unidimensional, possesses excellent reliabilit y (alpha = .98) and has a low standard error of measurement. Support w as also shown for several types of measurement validity, including dis criminant validity, factorial validity and construct validity. Conclus ions: Data from the current study support use of the CAST as a reliabl e and valid instrument that may be employed in both research and clini cal practice.