Comparing usual quantity/frequency and graduated frequency scales to assess yearly alcohol consumption: results from the 1990 US National Alcohol Survey

Abstract

Data were used from the 1990 US national alcohol survey to compare two volume measures of alcohol consumption: usual quantity/frequency (QF) and graduated frequency (GF). The QF measure obtained global estimates of average alcohol intake per day; the GF measure is a series of questions on the frequency of consuming specific numbers of drinks which ranges from the most ever consumed in the last year to 1–2 drinks per occasion. The GF measure provided higher estimates of alcohol use. Respondents whose reports were inconsistent between the measures were more likely to be male, never married, and report getting drunk at least monthly and drinking five or more drinks on one occasion at least monthly during the last year.