The measurement of craving

This article presents an overview of the definition and measurement of "cra ving" as it is applied to drug and alcohol abuse research. Examples of crav ing measures are described and organized in terms of whether they structure craving as a single factor or as a multifactorial construct. The applicati on of craving scales in cue-conditioning studies, in medication treatment t rials, and as outcome measures in other treatment studies is considered. It is concluded that no single craving scale, or type of scale, has unequivoc al support, because few studies have administered more than one scale to th e same population. It is suggested that our understanding of craving will b e advanced by designing studies that compare and contrast several craving s cales within the same study. Likewise, craving is only one possible cause o f relapse. Future studies should compare several alternate relapse mechanis ms within the same study. (C) 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights re served.