DEVELOPMENT AND INITIAL VALIDATION OF A MEASURE OF DRINKING URGES IN ABSTINENT ALCOHOLICS

Although drinking urges and cravings are commonly reported by alcoholi cs, prospective studies have found inconsistent associations between s uch urges and drinking relapses. Previous studies have measured drinki ng urges by use of single-item ratings of alcohol craving or other mea sures of unknown reliability and validity. To permit improved evaluati on of hypotheses regarding alcohol craving, a 49-item questionnaire th at reflects several urge-related domains was developed and pretested. items assessed subjects' desire for a drink, expectations of positive effects following drinking, relief of withdrawal and negative affect f ollowing drinking, and intention to drink. Exploratory and confirmator y factor analyses of the responses of 351 abstinent, treatment-seeking alcoholics indicated that alcohol urges are best described by a singl e factor. Based on these analyses, an internally consistent, reliable, and psychometrically valid 8-item scale, the Alcohol Urge Questionnai re (AUG), was developed. Data indicated that AUQ scores were strongly related to alcohol dependence severity and to cognitive preoccupation with alcohol, and that they declined with prolonged abstinence. The AU Q may be useful in alcoholism treatment research and in laboratory stu dies of reactivity to alcohol or other manipulations.