Development and Validation of the Retrospective Alcohol Context Scale

Background: Few validated measures exist to capture the context and consequences of specific drinking events among college students. Objectives: This study sought to describe the development and validation of the Retrospective Alcohol Context Scale (RACS), a 30-day measure of drinking context among college students. Methods: A sample of 169 college students completed daily alcohol assessments for 30 days and completed the RACS at follow-up. Results: The RACS captured fewer negative consequences than daily assessments; however, high agreement was observed on context variables. Conclusion: Results support the validity of the RACS as a measure of drinking context among college students. The RACS may be most useful when information about drinking needs to be collected under limited time and resources. Scientific Significance: Further research is needed to examine the RACS among more diverse, probability samples and over longer time periods.