Addiction Severity Index (ASI) summary scores: comparison of the Recent Status Scores of the ASI-6 and the Composite Scores of the ASI-5.

The characteristics and the validity of the Recent Status Scores (RSSs), the new summary scores generated by the sixth version of the Addiction Severity Index (ASI-6), are compared to the fifth version of the ASI summary scores, the Composite Scores (CSs). A sample of 82 randomly selected patients from substance abuse treatment programs were interviewed with the ASI-6, the ASI-5 and were administered a validity battery of questionnaires that included measures corresponding to each of the ASI domains. Each ASI-6 RSS was significantly correlated with its corresponding ASI-5 CS. The intercorrelations among the RSSs are low and none of these correlations were statistically different from the intercorrelations among CSs. In five of the seven areas, the ASI-6 RSSs were more highly correlated to the corresponding validity measures than were the ASI-5 CSs. The ASI-6 offers more comprehensive content in its scales than do those derived with earlier ASIs.