Christopher W. Kahler

Maybe someone should interview Christopher W Kahler, Ph.D., Principal Investigator, Brown University on Good Morning America, since that's such a trusted news source.

,A few self-report measures have been devised specifically to assess alcohol problems in college students such as the YAAPST and CAPS,, said Christopher W. Kahler, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University and corresponding author for the study.The 27-item YAAPST includes items traditionally associated with problematic drinking, as well as items that might be especially prevalent in college students; and the eight-item CAPS focuses on two factors, social problems and personal problems. ,The 23-item RAPI was developed using younger adolescents ages 12 to 21, but also has been widely used in college populations,, said Kahler. ,Its items were based upon existing questionnaires used in adolescent and adult research on alcohol problems.,

While all three measures had clear strengths, said Kahler, analysis suggested that scales could be better designed for ,dichotomous scoring, , that is, symptoms present or absent , and for measuring less severe alcohol problems that are more common.
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,We used the Rasch model to identify whether certain questions are redundant with one another, whether all items measure the same general content area, and whether responses to the questions are orderly, that is, do people who say ,yes, to more severe or more rare problems also say ,yes, to less severe and more common problems?, said Kahler.
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Kahler and his colleagues plan to continue refining their new scale. ,We want to see whether the ordering of items in their relative severity , that is, their relative rarity of occurrence among regular drinkers , reflects a developmental progression,, he said. ,For example, do certain alcohol problems reliably occur earlier in one,s drinking career than more severe problems?

Contact: Christopher W. Kahler, Ph.D.christopher kahler@brown.edu401-444-1882Brown University
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"A few self-report measures have been devised specifically to assess alcohol problems in college students such as the YAAPST and CAPS," said Christopher W. Kahler, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University and corresponding author for the study.The 27-item YAAPST includes items traditionally associated with problematic drinking, as well as items that might be especially prevalent in college students; and the eight-item CAPS focuses on two factors, social problems and personal problems."The 23-item RAPI was developed using younger adolescents ages 12 to 21, but also has been widely used in college populations," said Kahler."Its items were based upon existing questionnaires used in adolescent and adult research on alcohol problems."

While all three measures had clear strengths, said Kahler, analysis suggested that scales could be better designed for "dichotomous scoring" - that is, symptoms present or absent - and for measuring less severe alcohol problems that are more common.
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said Kahler.
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"This manuscript simply shows that there is a reliable ordering of alcohol problems in college students that can be efficiently measured," said Kahler.
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Kahler and his colleagues plan to continue refining their new scale."We want to see whether the ordering of items in their relative severity - that is, their relative rarity of occurrence among regular drinkers - reflects a developmental progression," he said.

Christopher W. KahlerCenter for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University

RICHARD A. BROWN (Brown Medical School/Butler Hospital), Carl W. Lejuetz (University of Maryland), Christopher W. Kahler (Brown University) and David R. Strong (Brown Medical School/Butler Hospital)