Though, we did not observe an interaction between PAS and labeling status for social network involvement. Our measure of social network involvement, however, was not specific as other studies’ measures where meaningful distinctions between in-home and out of home social network involvement could be made (Link et al. 1989; Perlick 2001). Our results might have been different if a more refined measure of social network involvement was used. On the other hand, social networks of persons with AUDs may be less affected by alcohol stigma, although the extent to which alcohol stigma contributes or not to social network composition is unknown. Others have found that heavy drinkers have very high rates of alcohol-focused friendships (Leonard et al. 2000), but whether this holds for those with AUD, or is partially driven by stigma, is an open question.
