THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-RATING OF THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL AND ALCOHOL CHALLENGE RESULTS IN 98 YOUNG MEN

Objective: The level of intensity of response to a drug is likely to i nfluence the future pattern of intake of the substance. This article e valuates a simple Self-Rating of the Effects (SRE) of alcohol form, an d reports the relationship between a person's estimate of the amounts of alcohol usually required for four possible effects during three dif ferent time frames and his subjective feelings reported during an alco hol challenge. Method: SRE forms and results of a challenge with 0.9 m l/kg (0.72 g/kg) of ethanol were available for 18 to 29 year old drink ing, but not alcohol dependent, men (N = 98). A subset of 40 subjects completed a second SRE form approximately 1 year later. Results: The c orrelation between the two SRE administrations was .82 (p < .0001), an d the results on the SRE were internally consistent, with a higher num ber of drinks associated with more intense alcohol effects. Focusing o n the subjective feelings reported at the 60-minute timepoint during t he alcohol challenge, 11 of the 12 alcohol effect categories on the SR E correlated in the predicted direction, including eight that were sta tistically significant. Evaluating all seven timepoints during the dri nking experiment, the average number of drinks on the SRE correlated s ignificantly with the Subjective High Assessment Scale (SHAS) total sc ore at all but the final timepoint. Sons of alcoholics and controls de monstrated similar levels of correlation between SRE and alcohol chall enge results. Finally, the SRE correctly identified 79% of the individ uals whose level of response to alcohol fell into the lowest third of intensity during the alcohol challenge, and it correctly classified 60 % to 67% of the alcohol challenge subjects who did not fall into that low response category. Conclusions: The SRE is a simple and reliable m easure of a person's estimate of the number of drinks required to achi eve a response. The form might be helpful in educating people about th e intensity of their response to alcohol and might be useful as a poin t of discussion in curricula focusing on genetic aspects of alcoholism . When alcohol challenges are not possible in a research protocol, the SRE might help identify a less heterogeneous subgroup of individuals at high risk for alcoholism who have a common mechanism increasing the ir vulnerability.