Alcoholism - Risk Factors

Risk Factors

About 90% of adults in the U.S. drink alcohol. Every day, more than 700,000 Americans are being treated for alcoholism. In addition, up to half of American men have problems that are caused by alcohol.

Categories of Alcoholic Types

Some researchers have categorized people with alcoholism as Type 1 or Type 2.

• Type 1 individuals are more often women. They typically become alcoholic at a later age, have less severe symptoms or fewer psychiatric problems, and have a better outlook on life than those classified as type 2.
• Type 2 people are more likely to be male. They tend to become alcoholic at an early age and have a high family risk for alcoholism, more severe symptoms, and a negative outlook on life.

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Not only do these two groups tend to respond differently to psychotherapeutic approaches, but they may also respond differently to medications.

Age

Drinking in Adolescence. About half of under-age Americans have used alcohol. About 2 million people between the ages of 12 and 20 are considered heavy drinkers, and 4.4 million are binge drinkers. Anyone who begins drinking in adolescence is at risk for developing alcoholism. The earlier a person begins drinking, the greater the risk. A 2006 survey of over 40,000 adults indicated that among those who began drinking before age 14, nearly half had become alcoholic dependent by the age of 21. In contrast, only 9% of people who began drinking after the age of 21 developed alcoholism.

Young people at highest risk for early drinking are those with a history of abuse, family violence, depression, and stressful life events. People with a family history of alcoholism are also more likely to begin drinking before the age of 20 and to become alcoholic. Such adolescent drinkers are also more apt to underestimate the effects of drinking and to make judgment errors, such as going on binges or driving after drinking, than young drinkers without a family history of alcoholism.

Drinking in the Elderly Population. Although alcoholism usually develops in early adulthood, the elderly are not exempt. In fact, doctors may overlook alcoholism when evaluating elderly patients, mistakenly attributing the signs of alcohol abuse to the normal effects of the aging process. A survey of adults over 60 reported that 15% of men and 12% of women were hazardous drinkers, and 9% of men and 3% of women were alcohol dependent. In another study, the prevalence of problem drinking was as high as 49% among nursing home patients.