The children of alcoholics screening test: Relationship to sex, family environment, and social adjustment in adolescents

Abstract

The Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST), the Family Environment Scale (relationship scales only), and the Social Maladjustment Scale were administered to 494 male and female adolescents with a mean age of 16.6 years. High CAST scores were found to be related significantly to low family cohesion, high family conflict, and low overall family support. CAST scores were not related significantly to family expressiveness or to social maladjustment. Internal consistency reliability estimates for the CAST for both males and females were in the mid .90s. Finally, CAST scores of male and female adolescents were found to differ significantly, which indicates the need for separate validation studies to determine screening cut-points for the two groups.