Can severity of substance use be measured across drug classes? Estimating differential item functioning by drug class in two general measures of substance use severity

Original research
by
Janulis, Patrick et al

Release Date

2023

Geography

USA

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

No

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

No

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

Measure general substance use severity, to examine for differential item functioning (DIF) across substances (i.e., sedatives, opioids, amphetamines, cocaine, and cannabis).

Findings/Key points

These findings suggest that these two measures of substance use severity can be used across individuals using different substances. Factor scores appear similar across scoring methods and mean differences do not appear to be substantially biased.

Design/methods

Data from two independent samples (n1 = 474; n2 = 5,183) and two measures of general substance use severity with generic items

doi.org

Keywords

Clinical guidance