2000 NATIONAL ALCOHOL AND GENERAL POPULATION SURVEYS

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DESCRIPTION: The proposed study analyzes in years 01-04 National Alcohol Survey (NAS) data collected under year 05 of the current Center grant (N = 10,000). The NAS10 survey uses random digit sampling of a representative US household population 18 and over. Interviews are conducted by telephone and last 20 (abstainers) to 45 minutes (heavy drinkers) on average. The design includes minority oversamples (2,000 African Americans and 2,000 Hispanics) and involves interviews in all 50 US states plus DC, with a response rate of at least 70% specified. Many questions are replicated from prior NAS surveys, allowing comparability of 5-yearly trend estimates going back to 1979. Item content includes measures of alcohol consumption patterns, alcohol-related problems, situational norms for drinking, alcohol-related consequences such as drunk driving and injuries, alcohol dependence symptoms, cognitive and social covariates, and demographics. Other items query respondents? use of services such as emergency rooms, experiences with alcohol treatment programs, and support for alcohol policies. The ARG Center is uniquely able to study trends in this broad array of policy-relevant health variables. Analyses in the current period will provide a detailed epidemiological profile of alcohol-related behaviors at the end of the millennium and augment the surveillance data required to assess attainment of policy goals for Healthy People 2000. To study underlying mechanisms of influence, trends will add new analyses of age-period- cohort effects. We predict that recent changes in alcohol consumption and related problems will be independent of gender, but will differ by ethnic group, and birth cohort. We expect to find that rates of service utilization differ by ethnicity, gender, and region. The increased sample size will greatly increase precision of risk function estimates we make, sharpening our national policy recommendations regarding "safer" drinking levels. We expect that risk curves will differ by SES, gender, ethnicity, and personality factors like impulsivity. We expect to find increasingly differentiated and high levels of, but possibly declining support for, public policies that limit alcohol access, provide health information, and increase access to treatment services. Methodological studies are also planned to validate findings, with detailed comparisons to assess interview mode effects and characteristics of ethnic oversamples between the 1995 and 2000 surveys. The NAS series serves a major integrative function in the Center and addresses all Center aims.