Alcohol use inventory: screening and assessment of first-time driving-while-impaired offenders. II. Typology and predictive validity

This study evaluated the use of Alcohol Use Inventory (AUI) for driving-whi le impaired (DWI) screening, by determining whether DWI offenders (n = 1644 ). grouped according to their reported alcohol involvement on the AUI. woul d have different rates of recidivism in a 5-year follow-up. Cluster analysi s using the six second-order scales produced six groups (clusters 1-6) desc ribed as the Low-Profile (50%). Alcohol-Preoccupation (14%). Enhanced (22%) . Enhanced-Disrupt (9%). Anxious-Disrupt (3%). and High-Profile (IR) types. They were characterized by different sociodemographic profiles. Members of cluster 4 were associated with the highest DWI recidivism rate (40%). comm itting one or more Further DWI. and clusters 5 and 6 were associated with t he highest rate of committing two or more DWIs. Rates of subsequent traffic convictions and crashes were. however, not statistically different among t he clusters. Predictors of DWI recidivism included male gender, young age, less-educated, high blood-alcohol concentration at arrest and clusters of 3 and 4. Different typologies indicated that the needs for treatment might b e different. Evaluators should keep in mind the strength of AUI. use risk f actors identified in the study. and take measures of test-taking defensiven ess to enhance overall predictive validity.