Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2013

DOI

10.1037/a0031366

Publication Title

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors

Volume

27

Issue

4

Pages

1010-1018

Abstract

The purpose of the present studies was to examine the effects of response scale on the observed relationships between protective behavioral strategies (PBS) measures and alcohol-related outcomes. We reasoned that an "absolute frequency" scale (stem: "how many times..."; response scale: 0 times to 11 + times) conflates the frequency of using PBS with the frequency of consuming alcohol; thus, we hypothesized that the use of an absolute frequency response scale would result in positive relationships between types of PBS and alcohol-related outcomes. Alternatively, a "contingent frequency" scale (stem: "When drinking ... how often ..."; response scale: never to always) does not conflate frequency of alcohol use with use of PBS; therefore, we hypothesized that use of a contingent frequency scale would result in negative relationships between use of PBS and alcohol-related outcomes. Two published measures of PBS were used across studies: the Protective Behavioral Strategies Survey (PBSS) and the Strategy Questionnaire (SQ). Across three studies, we demonstrate that when measured using a contingent frequency response scale, PBS measures relate negatively to alcohol-related outcomes in a theoretically consistent manner; however, when PBS measures were measured on an absolute frequency response scale, they were nonsignificantly or positively related to alcohol-related outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for the assessment of PBS.

Comments

NOTE: This is the author's post-print version of a work that was published in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. The final version was published as:

Kite, B. A., Pearson, M. R., & Henson, J. M. (2013). The assessment of protective behavioral strategies: comparing the absolute frequency and contingent frequency response scales. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 27(4), 1010-1018. doi:10.1037/a0031366

Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0031366

Original Publication Citation

Kite, B. A., Pearson, M. R., & Henson, J. M. (2013). The assessment of protective behavioral strategies: comparing the absolute frequency and contingent frequency response scales. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 27(4), 1010-1018. doi:10.1037/a0031366

ORCID

0000-0003-3772-0186 (Pearson)

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