Center & Other Research

When Does Pressure Facilitate Help Seeking? 25 Year Trends and Correlates

Description:
This study uses data from the Alcohol Research Group (ARG) National Alcohol Survey (NAS) collected at six different time points over a 25 year period (1984-2009) (N’s = 2,058 to 8,000; pooled N=34,735) to describe the patterns of pressure that drinkers received during the past year and lifetime from family, friends, physicians, and the workplace to “drink less or act differently” when they drank. Study aims include investigation of 1) the characteristics of individuals who received pressure, 2) how receipt of pressure was related to help seeking in Alcoholics Anonymous and formal services, 3) how receipt of pressure was related to reasons for seeking and not seeking help, 4) how a variety of factors moderated the relationship between pressure and help seeking (e.g., alcohol related consequences, alcohol dependence severity, and beliefs about alcohol), and 5) how the impact of pressure varied for drinker subgroups (e.g., drug users, welfare recipients, drinkers arrested or convicted for alcohol offenses, and the uninsured).  Last, we will model 25-year trends in receipt of pressure and its impact on help seeking using age, time period, and birth cohort (APC) analyses.  Results should help policymakers and treatment providers facilitate the types of pressures that are associated with desirable outcomes, such as increasing treatment entry or attendance at AA meetings, and avoid counterproductive types of pressure that can increase resistance to help seeking.