Tables 1 through 3 present the lifetime prevalence of alcohol dependence by age of drinking onset (for ages ≤13 and ≥21), race, and gender. For the total sample of lifetime drinkers, prevalence of lifetime alcohol dependence decreased substantially with increasing age at drinking onset, regardless of family history of alcoholism (see table 1). However, the prevalence of lifetime dependence generally was far greater among FHP respondents than among FHN respondents. For example, the prevalence of lifetime dependence among respondents who began drinking at age 21 or older was two to three times greater among those classified as FHP compared with those classified as FHN. All the trends noted for the total sample of drinkers also were observed for each race-gender subgroup of lifetime drinkers (see tables 2 and 3). Furthermore, consistent with the distribution of dependence among lifetime drinkers, the prevalence of lifetime alcohol dependence was greater among whites than among blacks and greater among male respondents than among female respondents at almost all ages of onset of drinking, regardless of family history of alcoholism.
