Lennox R D, Zarkin G A, Bray J W
Applied Psychometrics Laboratory, Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194, USA.
J Subst Abuse. 1996;8(2):241-50. doi: 10.1016/s0899-3289(96)90282-5.
This study examines the improvement in validity coefficients and structural relationships derived from formally modeling latent variables of adverse alcohol-related constructs. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis of responses from 8,755 participants in the 1988 National Household Survey of Drug Abuse support a three-factor model of alcohol abuse, dependence, and adverse consequences. A comparison of construct intercorrelations shows latent variables to be superior to measurement approaches using unweighted sums, quantity x frequency calculation, and single-item measurement.
