Criterion and Construct Validation of the Vulnerability/Resistance Measure

Abstract

The close agreement between the students’ vulnerability scores and their reported use of all substances, from tobacco to crack cocaine, offers evidence of the validity of the Vulnerability/Resistance measure. The results bear on additional aspects of the Vulnerability measure focusing on the accuracy of predictions. The first comparison tests the accuracy of identifying users of specific substances based on the students’ Vulnerability scores. The second shows how the accuracy of identification based on the vulnerability alone can be increased (well over 80%) by using multiple predictors (gender, environment, etc.).