TREATMENT SELF-HELP FOR ALCOHOL-RELATED PROBLEMS - RELATIONSHIP TO SOCIAL PRESSURE AND ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE

In a 1984 national survey of U.S. adult drinking practices and problem s, social pressure to change one's drinking behavior was significantly related in men to a history of alcohol treatment or self-help (AA), a s was severity of alcohol dependence. When dependence was added to a m odel already including social pressure as a predictor of treatment, th e fit of the model to the data was significantly improved. Implication s of the findings for diagnostic criteria used to define alcohol depen dence are discussed, as well as the relationship of the findings to a theoretical model of illness behavior.