The role of alcohol-related problematic events in treatment entry

This is an analysis of alcohol-related problematic events experienced by alcohol treatment clients in the year before treatment and the reporting of these events as major reasons for treatment entry. A probability sample of new intakes (N = 316) of the 8 contracted alcohol programs of a California county was interviewed. Data were collected on demographics, drinking patterns and a series of ten problematic events. Events (N = 982) are the unit of analysis. The analysis examines the events reported as major reasons for entering treatment. Logistic regression is used to investigate the socio-demographic and drinking variables associated with that reporting. Drinking driving, relapses and serious drinking episodes were reported as being major reasons for entering treatment a significant proportion of the times they occurred. Public drunkenness and non-traffic accidents had significant proportions of individuals reporting them as not being major reasons for treatment when they occurred. Age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, employment and frequency of drunkenness were predictors of some types of events being major reasons, but there was no pattern across all events. The variables associated with experiencing an event were not the same as those which predicted the event would be reported a major reason for treatment.