Assessing alcohol consumption: developments from qualitative research methods

This paper examines some shortcomings of self-report questionnaires used to assess alcohol use quantity and frequency and demonstrates the advantages of qualitative interviews to more accurately capture drinking patterns amon g adolescents. The paper considers alcohol use among two ethnic groups of B lack adolescents and discusses variations in rates of alcohol consumption. Qualitative interview data collected from African-American and Haitian adol escents suggest higher rates of alcohol consumption than indicated in previ ous studies of Black adolescents. Furthermore, qualitative interview data d emonstrate greater differences across groups in drinking patterns, includin g amount and type of alcohol consumed in different cultural contexts than h ave quantitative-based studies. Strategies are suggested for improving the methodology used to assess drinking patterns among adolescents. (C) 2001 El sevier Science Ltd, All rights reserved.