The structure of substance use and substance use disorders (SUDs - including abuse and dependence), as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals (DSMs) [1], both for individual and multiple substances, has been modeled in a range of populations using a variety of measurement techniques. Here we aim to test whether the structure of substance dependence criteria endorsement across multiple substances is similar between different sampling methods (i.e., community-sampled twins versus clinically over-selected individuals) as well as between sexes. Applying diagnostic criteria across a variety of research settings assumes implicitly that these criteria have equivalent measurement properties (such as rank order of symptom endorsement frequencies) when applied to either clinical or epidemiological samples. This is not a minor issue, given that DSM criteria are explicitly designed for application within clinical rather than epidemiological settings, but often studied in general population and research-based samples.
