All scales

Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test

AUDIT
health sciencespsychologyPublic domain

A 10-item screening tool developed by the WHO to identify hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption and possible dependence over the past year.

Items
10
Response format
5-point frequency scale (0-4); two items scored 0-2-4
Version
1.0
Subscales
3

Ready-to-cite methods sentence

Alcohol use was screened with the AUDIT (Saunders et al., 1993), a 10-item WHO instrument; a score of 8 or more indicates hazardous or harmful use.

Reliability & validation

Validation population
Primary care patients across six countries (Saunders et al., 1993)
Cronbach's α
0.8

Subscales

Hazardous alcohol useDependence symptomsHarmful alcohol use

Known limitations

A screening instrument, not diagnostic. Optimal cutoffs vary by gender and population, and self-reported consumption is subject to under-reporting.

Original citation

Saunders, J. B., Aasland, O. G., Babor, T. F., de la Fuente, J. R., Grant, M. (1993). Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT): WHO Collaborative Project on Early Detection of Persons with Harmful Alcohol Consumption-II. Addiction, 88(6), 791-804.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.1993.tb02093.x

Questions researchers ask

What does the AUDIT measure?

A 10-item screening tool developed by the WHO to identify hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption and possible dependence over the past year.

How many items does the AUDIT have?

The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) has 10 items across 3 subscales: Hazardous alcohol use, Dependence symptoms, Harmful alcohol use.

Is the AUDIT free to use?

The AUDIT is in the public domain — free to use, reproduce and adapt without seeking permission. Cite the original source.

Is the AUDIT reliable?

Validation studies report Cronbach's α of 0.8. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.

Who developed the AUDIT, and how do I cite it?

Saunders, J. B., Aasland, O. G., Babor, T. F., de la Fuente, J. R., Grant, M. (1993). Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT): WHO Collaborative Project on Early Detection of Persons with Harmful Alcohol Consumption-II. Addiction, 88(6), 791-804. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.1993.tb02093.x

Use AUDIT in Folio Surveyor

Add it to a study with the full items, scoring, and analysis built in.

Open Surveyor

Related scales

BAIBeck Anxiety InventoryBDI-IIBeck Depression Inventory-IIBSMASBergen Social Media Addiction ScaleBRSBrief Resilience ScaleBrief-COPEBrief-COPECES-DCenter for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale

Library entry verified July 2026. Metadata is provided for reference; item wording is available inside Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing.