ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE AND ABUSE DIAGNOSES - VALIDITY IN COMMUNITY SAMPLEHEAVY DRINKERS

Despite the widespread influence of the alcohol dependence syndrome co ncept on the major nosological classification systems, little work has been done to test the validity of the alcohol dependence syndrome in community samples. In addition, numerous questions have been asked abo ut the validity of current definitions of alcohol abuse. We examined t he cross-sectional validity of DSM-IV alcohol dependence and abuse in 936 household residents randomly selected and screened for elevated dr inking. We investigated validity by testing the association of a set o f seven ''criterion'' variables, external to the alcohol diagnostic cr iteria, with dependence and abuse diagnoses. Results indicated that de pendence diagnoses were significantly associated with all criterion va riables when compared to those with no diagnosis, even though all subj ects had elevated drinking and the cases of alcohol dependence were mi ld. In contrast, abuse diagnoses did not show a pattern of association with the criterion variables when compared to no diagnosis. When asso ciations were tested comparing dependence cases to those with abuse on ly, results were mixed. This study is one in a series of investigation s in this sample of household residents screened for elevated drinking levels.