Measurement of alcohol craving

Abstract Despite considerable research activity and application in treatment, the construct of craving remains poorly understood. We propose that cravings and urges are cognitive–emotional events in time, characterised by frequency, duration, intensity and salience. Commonly used measures of alcohol...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Addictive behaviors 2013-02, Vol.38 (2), p.1572-1584
Main Authors: Kavanagh, David J, Statham, Dixie J, Feeney, Gerald F.X, Young, Ross McD, May, Jon, Andrade, Jackie, Connor, Jason P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addictive behaviors
Alcohol
Alcohol Drinking - psychology
Alcohol use
Alcoholism - diagnosis
Alcoholism - psychology
Assessment
Behavior, Addictive - diagnosis
Behavior, Addictive - psychology
Cognition & reasoning
Craving
Emotions
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Humans
Measurement
Motivation - physiology
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Psychiatry
Psychometric
Psychometrics - methods
Psychometrics - statistics & numerical data
Reproducibility of Results
Risk assessment
Severity of Illness Index
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Despite considerable research activity and application in treatment, the construct of craving remains poorly understood. We propose that cravings and urges are cognitive–emotional events in time, characterised by frequency, duration, intensity and salience. Commonly used measures of alcohol craving are reviewed, and their strengths and weaknesses identified. Most measures confound craving with behaviours, or with separable cognitive phenomena such as expectancies, intentions, or perceived behavioural control. These confounds have limited our advances in understanding the determinants and consequences of craving. Based on the criteria applied in this review, among the better performing multi-item measures are the Penn Alcohol Craving Scale and Obsessive subscale of the Obsessive–Compulsive Drinking Scale. Optimal assessment strategies are likely to involve daily assessments of peak intensity of cravings, desires or urges and of the frequency and duration of craving episodes. Of particular interest are measures of intensity at times when individuals are at risk of drinking or of other functional impacts from craving.
ISSN:0306-4603
1873-6327
DOI:10.1016/j.addbeh.2012.08.004