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 problems, social pressure to change one's drinking behavior was significantly related in men to a history of alcohol treatment or self-help (AA), as was severity of alcohol dependence. When dependence was added to a model already including social pressure as a predictor of treatment, the fit of the model to the data was significantly improved. Implications of the findings for diagnostic criteria used to define alcohol dependence are discussed, as well as the relationship of the findings to a theoretical model of illness behavior.