A short version of the Alcohol Consumption Consequences Evaluation Scale (ACCE10).

Abstract

A brief version of the Alcohol Consumption Consequences Evaluation Scale (ACCE) [38] was developed to promptly detect possible risks related to alcohol consumption, such as Binge Drinking (BD), in university students. Using the "snowball" method, a sample of 595 students aged 18 to 20 (65.4% women) from the University of Valencia (Spain) was obtained during the 2019-2020 academic year. Items with the highest values of the discrimination parameter in the original version (ACCE) were selected and the Rasch model was applied. To verify the usefulness of this version, ROC analyses were conducted separately for men and women using the Audit score as the criterion. In the overall sample, the analysis had an area of 0.812 (SE = 0.018). In men, the area was 0.796 (SE = 0.032) and for women, it was 0.823 (SE = 0.021). In addition, a logistic regression analysis was performed, using a cut-off point of 3 based on the ROC analysis, to assess the utility of this version in classifying BD and non-BD. The odds ratio was 3.812 (p = 0.000), correctly classifying 89.2% of the young people and indicating that the probability of engaging in BD is 3.8 times higher for individuals obtaining more than 3 points on this scale. This result confirms the usefulness of this brief version (ACCE10) as a screening tool for early intervention, especially in clinical or university settings, since it allows young people to be situated within a range of severity according to their consumption patterns. Furthermore, it may help stop the progression of the addictive process, create awareness of the need for change, and facilitate access to the most suitable interventions.