The major purposes of the NESARC are to:

• determine the extent of alcohol use disorders and their associated disabilities in the general population;

• estimate the size, characteristics, and time trends of population of special concern, including alcohol abusers and persons in the general population otherwise impaired by the use of alcohol;

• provide more complete recording and tabulation of alcohol use disorders and their associated disabilities in important subgroups of the population;

• estimate changes over time in alcohol use disorders and their associated disabilities and to identify factors that impact on their remission, chronicity, stability, and initiation;

• increase our understanding of the natural history of alcohol use disorders and their associated disabilities;

• determine the number of individuals seeking and receiving treatment through alcohol treatment programs and services, including those not otherwise represented in periodic surveys of treatment facilities or populations in treatment;

• determine the demographic characteristics of individuals seeking and receiving treatment through alcohol treatment programs and services including those not otherwise represented in surveys of treatment facilities or populations in treatment;

• measure the number of people in the population in need of but not currently receiving treatment for alcohol and their associated disabilities;

• provide information concerning barriers to alcohol-related treatment services, particularly among low income groups, women, young adults, and minorities;

• determine the economic impact of alcohol use disorders and their associated disabilities on impaired productivity in the workplace;

• determine the magnitude and extent of binge drinking among college-aged young adults and to identify their characteristics and those risk factors influencing the initiation and remission of this hazardous drinking pattern;

• determine the boundaries between safe and hazardous drinking levels and patterns for various types of alcohol use disorders and their associated medical, social, and psychological sequella;

• determine the associations between alcohol use disorders and their major physical and mental disabilities;

• measure disability as a separate and distinct dimension of treatment need;

• determine the extent of major alcohol-related mental and physical disabilities that are substance-induced disorders and differentiate those substance-induced disorders from those reflecting true, independent mental conditions.
  
  

  Last updated: 02/09/07