Excess after stress—A three‐study validation of the salzburg stress drinking scale as a new tool to measure the stress–drinking relationship

Abstract

Stress frequently influences a person's propensity to drink alcohol. Inter‐individual differences in such stress‐related drinking can be assessed through psychometric scales; however, available questionnaires conflate stress‐ with emotion‐related reasons to drink and ignore evidence of decreased alcohol consumption in response to stress. Therefore, we developed a genuine stress–drinking scale (Salzburg Stress Drinking Scale; SSDS), adapted from the Salzburg Stress Eating Scale, and assessed its psychometric properties. In study 1 (n = 639), the SSDS was found to have a one‐factor structure, excellent internal consistency, and acceptable test‐retest reliability. SSDS scores were significantly correlated with other measures assessing emotional drinking, but uncorrelated with general alcohol pathology and other health‐relevant consummatory behaviors such as stress‐related eating or nicotine consumption. In addition, no significant sex differences arose. In study 2 (n = 42) patients with an alcohol use disorder or addiction scored significantly higher on the SSDS compared to healthy controls. In an Ecological Momentary Assessment study 3 (n = 67), the SSDS showed partial ecological validity through significant relationships with daily alcohol consumption, but not daily stress–drinking relationships. In sum, the SSDS represents a psychometrically sound tool for the measurement of stress‐related drinking and complements a battery of stress‐related changes in health‐relevant behaviors.