Journal of Substance Use, June 2010; 15(3): 166–173 ISSN 1465-9891 print/ISSN 1475-9942 online © 2010 Informa UK Ltd. DOI: 10.3109/14659890903013091 TJSU 1465-9891 1475-9942 Journal of Substance Use, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jul 2009: pp. 0–0 Journal of Substance Use ORIGINAL ARTICLE A comparison of self-reported alcohol use measures by early adolescents: Questionnaires versus diary Comparing self-reported alcohol-use measures I. M. Koning et al. INA M. KONING 1 , ZEENA HARAKEH 1 , RUTGER C. M. E. ENGELS 2 , & WILMA A. M. VOLLEBERGH 1 1 Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands, and 2 Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands Abstract To examine the reliability of self-reports on prevalence, frequency and quantity of drinking in early adolescents by comparing questionnaires with diary reports. Retrospective data were obtained with a questionnaire after conducting a 1-month daily diary on alcohol use in a sample of 78 early adoles- cents. Sensitivity, specificity, positive, negative predictive values and correlations were calculated to test whether questionnaire reports corresponded with diary reports. Adolescents reported higher prevalence of drinking in diary reports than questionnaire reports. The sensitivity and negative pre- dicted value of drinking prevalence were low, whereas the specificity and positive predicted value were high. Frequency of drinking reported in diary reports were highly correlated with questionnaire reports, whereas for the quantity of drinking only a moderate correlation was found. No significant differences were found for the average frequency and quantity of drinking between questionnaire and diary reports. Questionnaire reports tend to underestimate the prevalence of drinking in early adoles- cents compared to diary reports, whereas for frequency and quantity of drinking questionnaire reports proved to be reliable. Keywords: Early adolescents, self-report, alcohol use. Introduction Epidemiological studies on alcohol use in adolescents are mostly based on retrospective self-report measures. These studies showed alarmingly high alcohol consumption patterns in adolescents, in particular in some European countries, such as England, Italy, and the Netherlands (Hibell, Andersson, Bjarnasson, Ahlström, Balakireva, Okkevi, & Morgan, 2004). However, it has been suggested that adolescents might, unintentionally, underre- port their alcohol consumption due to the fact that memory biases come across when information on their drinking behaviour is asked in a retrospective manner (Leigh, Correspondence: Ina M. Koning, Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, PO Box 80.140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands. Tel: 31 30 2531873. Fax: 31 30 2534733. E-mail: i.koning@uu.nl J Subst Use Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by 83.163.156.140 on 06/10/10 For personal use only.