Drinking Problems Index (DPI)

Instrument Description:

The Drinking Problems Index (DPI) has been used in research that examines problem drinking among late-middle-aged adults. The DPI has high internal consistency and is associated in predictable ways with the quantity of alcohol consumption.

Instrument Development: Penny Brennan, Ph.D., John Finney, Ph.D., Rudolf H. Moos, Ph.D.

Research Contact: Penny Brennan, Ph.D.

Instrument and Scoring Instruction Availability:

Scale

Scoring Instructions

*Author note: You are welcome to use the DPI in your project and to make copies of it for this purpose. Please be sure to include the copyright notice on all reprinted copies of the Inventory. If you wish to adapt or change the DPI for your study, please write us for permission. We would appreciate a copy of the results of any study you conduct, so we can maintain a file of research using the DPI.

References:

Finney, J.W., Moos, R.H., & Brennan, P.L. (1991). The Drinking Problems Index: A measure to assess alcohol-related problems among older adults. Journal of Substance Abuse, 3, 395-404.

Other references in which the DPI is used:

Brennan, P.L., & Moos, R.H. (1990). Life stressors, social resources, and late-life problem drinking. Psychology and Aging, 5, 491-501.Reprinted in G. A. Marlatt & G. R. VandenBos (1997). Addictive Behaviors: Readings on etiology, prevention, and treatment (pp 805-828). Washington, D.C., American Psychological Association.

Brennan, P.L., & Moos, R.H. (1991). Functioning, life contexts, and help-seeking among late-onset problem drinkers: Comparisons with early-onset and nonproblem drinkers. British Journal of Addiction, 86, 1139-1150.

Brennan, P. L., & Moos, R. H. (1996). Late-life problem drinking: Personal and environmental risk factors for 4-year functioning outcomes and treatment-seeking. Journal of Substance Abuse, 8, 167-180.

Brennan, P. L., Moos, R. H., & Kelly, K. M. (1994). Spouses of late-life problem drinkers: Functioning, coping responses, and family contexts. Journal of Family Psychology, 8, 447-457.

Brennan, P.L., Moos, R.H., & Kim, J.Y. (1993). Gender differences in the life contexts, coping responses, and functioning of late-life problem drinkers. Addiction, 88, 781-790.

Brennan, P. L., Moos, R. H., Mertens, J. R. (1994). Personal and environmental risk factors as predictors of alcohol use, depression, and treatment-seeking: A longitudinal analysis of late-life problem drinkers. Journal of Substance Abuse, 6, 191-208.

Brennan, P.L., Moos, R.H., & Mertens, J.R. (1994). Personal and environmental risk factors as predictors of alcohol use, depression, and treatment seeking: A longitudinal analysis of late-life problem drinkers. Journal of Substance Abuse, 6, 191-208.

Brennan, P. L., Schutte, K. K., & Moos, R. H. (1999). Reciprocal relations between stressors and drinking behavior: A three-wave panel study of late middle-aged and older women and men. Addiction, 94, 737-749.

Mertens, J. R., Moos, R. H., & Brennan, P. L. (1996). Alcohol consumption, life context, and coping predict mortality among late-middle-aged drinkers. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 20, 313-319.