DIAGNOSIS AND ASSESSMENT Scale for the Measurement of Attitudes Towards Alcohol

Abstract — Aims: The aim was to analyse the characteristics of, and validate, a new instrument in Italian, ‘Scale for the measure-ment of attitudes towards alcohol’. The instrument is a means for assessing young people’s risk profile regarding the use of alcohol and identifying the factors that contribute to determining this attitude. Methods: The test was initially composed of 60 items divided into three domains and administered to a sample of 41 subjects. The results revealed the necessity of adapting the test’s conceptual structure: consequently, the items were reduced to 35, divided into five domains. This second version was administered to a sample of 467 students attending upper secondary schools and vocational training schools in the municipality of Siena. Following this second experiment, a third version was realized, which comprised 25 items divided into the same five domains; it was administered to 100 subjects, with an equal number of males and females and an age range of 14–30 years. Analysis of the data obtained resulted in a final structure formed of 15 items in three domains. Results: The final structure of the test has good psychometric properties in terms of both reliability and validity. Conclusions: The ‘Scale for the measurement of attitudes towards alcohol ’ can be seen as an instrument for evaluating the factors capable of conditioning the behaviour of people between 18 and 26 years of age towards alco-holic substances