MAST: Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test

Overview

Survey Doctor's MAST uses 24 required yes-or-no questions and a weighted total from 0 to 53. Most questions ask whether a drinking-related experience has ever happened. The total does not identify current drinking or diagnose alcohol use disorder.

Form and edition

Selzer's 1971 publication introduced the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test. Later versions changed item count, wording, follow-up fields, and interpretation.

Survey Doctor uses the 24 weighted questions and point values printed in SAMHSA's 1997 guide for primary care clinicians, which cites Selzer's paper. That printing also opens with an unscored question and asks how many times after the two arrest questions. Survey Doctor does not ask those parts.

The PAR technical history distinguishes a 25-question original from a 24-question revision published in 1975. It describes the same point values and documents wording changes across versions.

How Survey Doctor scores the form

Each answer carries 0, 1, 2, or 5 points, as printed. Four questions are reverse keyed, so their No answer adds two points. Yes adds five points on the questions about Alcoholics Anonymous, seeking help, and hospital care.

All 24 answers are required. The product adds their points into a total from 0 to 53. It does not calculate a separate unit-weighted total.

Some printings add points for each delirium tremens episode or each arrest. Survey Doctor counts each question once at its printed weight, the method PAR describes for the 1975 revision, and does not ask for those counts.

The weights are arithmetic. They do not prove that one experience is more serious than another for a particular person.

Cutoff and label limits

MAST classification rules have changed across publications. The SAMHSA printing reproduces Selzer's original scoring system, which treated 5 or more points as the screening cutoff and described 4 points as suggestive. PAR reports that Selzer and colleagues proposed 0-4, 5-6, and 7 or more in 1975 to reduce false positives. Other studies proposed different cutpoints for their own samples.

Survey Doctor reports the number without a category label. Current result, report, and export paths also withhold labels saved under earlier product groupings.

Do not use the total as a treatment rule. A low number cannot rule out a current concern, and a high lifetime total can reflect events that happened years ago.

What the questions cover

The form asks about perceived control, other people's concerns, memory loss, health experiences, help-seeking, work, relationships, and legal consequences. These topics do not form separate scored domains.

Several answers can describe a past period that has ended. The questionnaire does not ask enough about current quantity, frequency, timing, or withdrawal risk to establish present status. Review when each endorsed event occurred.

Choosing a current alcohol screen

The MAST is not interchangeable with shorter or more recent alcohol questionnaires.

Use current drinking history alongside any lifetime score. Do not convert totals between forms or place them on one trend line.

For a reader-focused guide, see what your MAST score means.

When to seek help

You do not need a particular MAST score to ask about alcohol. Bring the answers, their timing, and current drinking pattern to a qualified provider.

NIAAA guidance warns that suddenly stopping after prolonged heavy drinking can cause dangerous withdrawal. Seek medical help to plan a safe change if that may apply. This risk depends on current use and health, not on a lifetime MAST total.

Important limits

• The total is a screening result, not a diagnosis
• Event counts and per-event points from some printed versions are not recorded
• Manual or imported score-only records do not establish item completeness or form version
• Repeated scores can continue to reflect remote events
• The total should not drive legal, employment, disability, or other high-stakes decisions by itself