Both alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are most prevalent among Native Americans and least prevalent among Blacks and Asians. For example, among Native Americans in the NESARC Wave 1 sample, 5.8 percent met criteria for past-year alcohol abuse and 6.4 percent met criteria for past-year alcohol dependence, whereas among Asians, 2.1 percent met criteria for past-year alcohol abuse and 2.4 percent met criteria for past-year alcohol dependence (Hasin et al. 2007). Among Blacks, the prevalence for past-year alcohol abuse and dependence was 3.3 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively, and among Hispanics it was 4.0 percent for both past-year abuse and dependence (Hasin et al. 2007). Among drinkers, Blacks and Hispanics reported more symptoms of past-year alcohol dependence than did Whites (Mulia et al. 2009).
