The Drinking History: A Comparison of Reports by Subjects and their Relatives

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
As part of a larger clinical psychiatric study, 223 male criminals were interviewed, as well as relatives of 90 of them. These 90 men and their relatives are the subject of the present report. The interviews with both men and their relatives included 20 questions dealing with the drinking history. Alcoholism was diagnosed by independent criteria in 39 of the men. The responses of the 90 men and their relatives to 18 of the drinking history questions were compared, as were the diagnoses of alcoholism based upon the interviews with the subjects and with their relatives. Disagreement in response between the subjects and their relatives averaged 159c of all the questions in the entire sample, and 269c in the alcoholics. About 80% of the disagreements involved a positive answer from the subject and a negative answer from the relative. The men were apparently not influenced by the fact that their relatives were also being interviewed. Between 3 and 6% of all the questions were answered negatively by the subjects and positively by the relatives. A positive answer from a relative was elicited very infrequently if the subject gave a negative answer. The diagnosis of alcoholism could be made from the responses of the subject alone in 97% of the 39 alcoholics. It could be made from the responses of the relatives in only 41% of the alcoholics.
Keywords