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Monday, August 10, 2009

An IRT-based measure of alcohol trait severity and the role of traitedness in trait validity: A reanalysis of Project MATCH data
Drug and Alcohol Dependence Article in Press, 7 August 2009

With the variability among alcohol users in mind, Project MATCH hypothesized several treatment matching relationships based on alcohol severity and alcohol dependence, but found limited effects. However, it is possible that the existing examinations of Project MATCH data did not fully characterize the nature of severity of alcohol dependence, as these analyses have examined dependence severity as an additive symptom count similar to the diagnostic strategy represented in the DSM-IV.

We examined dependence severity as a latent trait hypothesized to have a characteristic developmental progression using Item Response Theory (IRT), and examined the implications of this approach to severity scaling in the Project MATCH data.

Overall, findings did not support the incremental utility of a latent trait representation of alcohol severity.

Request Reprint E-Mail: lmorey@psych.tamu.edu

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