Alcohol misuse is associated to cue-reactivity phenomena leading to consummation following desire and/or automatic processes.

The objective of the present study is to create a scale (the Desire and Automatism alcohol cue-Reactivity Questionnaire: DARQ-Alcohol) in order to assess desire and automatic reactivity to cue-stimuli-related to alcohol.

The present study aims to preliminary assess reliability of the DARQ-Alcohol and its external validity.

To be included in the study, participants had to drink alcohol at least once per week. Participants had to assess 60 alcohol related picture (valence, arousal and dominance) and to complete the AUDIT and the DARQ-Alcohol.

Eighty-nine participants (60 women) participated in the study. The reliability coefficients (Cronbach's alpha) calculated on DARQ-Alcohol were high both for the triggering of desire to drink (α=.88) and for the automatic proneness to drink (α=.90). Pearson's correlations were computed between (1) the three affective dimensions of the pictures, (2) the two dimensions of the ACRQ, (3) the total score on the AUDIT. Individuals who found the alcohol related pictures more pleasant, arousing and dominating have higher DARQ Alcohol automatic sub-score. DARQ Alcohol automatic sub-score is moderately related to the AUDIT score, whereas the DARQ Alcohol desire sub-score is less lightly correlated with the AUDIT score.

The DARQ Alcohol seems to be a useful scale allowing the distinction of automatic and desire-related cue-reactivity. Further studies on clinical sample are warranted to further validate the DARQ scale.