SENSATION SEEKING-DISINHIBITION AND ALCOHOL-USE - EXPLORING ISSUES OFCRITERION CONTAMINATION

Disinhibition has been theorized to increase risk for alcohol abuse. B ecause a major index of disinhibition, the Disinhibition subscale of t he Sensation Seeking Scales (DIS; M. Zuckerman, 1979, 1987), includes items that explicitly ask about alcohol use (see M. Zuckerman, 1994), the nature and extent of predictor-criterion contamination merits inve stigation. Using structural equation modeling, this study examined the factor structure and predictive validity of the DIS with drinking in 1,217 college students. A 3-factor model best fit the DIS, and predict ion of drinking by these factors varied based on their intrinsic level s of alcohol relatedness. Hence, the relationship between alcohol abus e risk and the DIS may require reconsideration. The factor structure o f the DIS also varied between light and heavy drinkers; the clinical a nd psychometric implications of this finding are discussed.