Chunk #3 — Measurement invariance of DSM-IV alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine dependence between community-sampled and clinically over-selected studies — Structure of multiple SUDs
The consistently high correlations among SUDs and presence of at least some common risk factors suggests that multiple substances may form a single underlying multi-substance dependence continuum. In a study by Kirisci and colleagues [21], multiple SUD diagnoses fit a unidimensional model in adult men (over-sampled for SUDs), their wives, and their adolescent sons. A single dimension also captures ever use of multiple substances, for both males and females in adolescent [22] and adult samples. [23] These studies demonstrate that the unidimensional structure of multiple substance problems is similar across ages and sexes, although they do not address concerns of generalizing the structure of substance dependence across samples drawn from different populations.
