Young Alcoholics

Abstract

The natural history of alcoholism has been described by Trice and Wahl (1958) and by Glatt (1967). The “average” alcoholic first begins drinking when aged 18, and by the time he is 26 he is drinking heavily and frequently becomes drunk. He begins to experience blackouts between the ages of 30 and 35, and a number of years later he is no longer able to control his intake of alcohol. He begins to lose contact with his family and friends and starts drinking alone. By the middle of the fifth decade he has reached his lowest point and seeks admission to hospital. In a proportion of cases∗ this process is markedly accelerated and patients aged 30 or less are admitted to hospital because of alcohol dependence.

The prevalence and demographic predictors of illicit and licit drug use among lesbians and gay men.

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Only within the last decade have studies begun to report both drug and alcohol use among larger and more representative samples.1419 However, most of this research has excluded lesbians, employed limited drug use measures, and been conducted in large cities known for their large homosexual populations (e.g., San Francisco). Little is known about the full extent of illicit and licit drug use among gay men and lesbians living in smaller cities.…”

‘Mixed’ (Drug Abusing) and ‘Pure’ Alcoholics: A Socio‐medical Comparison

“…With the increasing use and misuse of these drugs by society in general, it seems reasonable to surmise that the ratio of drug abusing to 'pure' alcoholics is also increasing. There is some evidence, particularly in younger alcoholics (Rosenberg, 1969), to support this conjecture. Furthermore, in the clinic population studied herein, more than one in every three alcoholics under the age of forty also misused one or more of the psychoactive drugs compared with less than one in five of alcoholics forty years of age and over.…”

“…Estimates ofthe proportion of alcoholics who conjointly misuse the psychoactive drugs vary widely, from 5 % or less (Texon, 1950;McCullough, 1952;Kari-Koskinen et al, 1970) to more than 50% (Rosenberg, 1969) and appear to depend, among other things, on the demographic characteristics of the group being studied. With the increasing use and misuse of these drugs by society in general, it seems reasonable to surmise that the ratio of drug abusing to 'pure' alcoholics is also increasing.…”

Emotion concepts in models of substance abuse

“…Longitudinal studies are scarce but at least one study suggests that heightened neuroticism predates first substance use [45]. Also, longer duration of substance use does not invariably lead to higher levels of neuroticism [46]. In fact, found higher levels of neuroticism in alcoholics under 30 year of age compared to alcoholics over 30.…”