Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST)

Most people who take an am I an alcoholic quiz already have a moment in mind: a morning they could not piece together, a remark from a partner, a promise to cut down that did not last. This questionnaire turns those moments into one honest number. Unlike a quick drinking problem quiz, it has been used by doctors and researchers for more than half a century.

What the MAST measures

The Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test was published by the psychiatrist Melvin Selzer in 1971 and remains one of the most quoted alcohol questionnaires. It asks about consequences rather than glasses per week, because two people can drink the same amount and pay very different prices. Your answers fall into four parts. Control covers whether you can stop after one or two drinks, whether you drink before noon and how your drinking looks next to other people. Family and friends covers worry, arguments, fights and lost friendships. Work, health and the law covers blackouts, missed days, liver trouble and arrests. Help covers meetings, doctors and hospital stays. Each question keeps its original weight of one, two or five points, and the four parts add up to your MAST score, shown from 0 to 100.

How to take it and read your score

Every question is answered Yes or No, and most people finish in about four minutes. Answer for your whole life unless a question asks about now: something that happened once, years ago, still counts. Four questions describe the opposite, such as stopping easily after one or two drinks, and are scored in reverse. After the last answer you see:

• your MAST score from 0 to 100, shown first;
• a level for each of the four parts;
• the answers that pushed your score up the most;
• a comparison with other people who took the test.

In Selzer's original scoring, a raw total of four is borderline and five or more is read as a sign of alcoholism, so even a score in the first third is worth reading answer by answer. Unlike a generic alcohol addiction test, the MAST weighs a hospital stay far more heavily than a single argument. That is why two people with the same number of Yes answers can end up with very different scores.