Characteristics of NESARC respondents for the overall sample and separately by alcohol-affected status are displayed in Table 1. The weighted data are representative of the U.S. population. About 12.6% were lifetime abstainers, 52.7% drank alcohol but never met criteria for AUD (unaffected), 20.5% met criteria for AUD in their lifetime but not in the past year (recovered), 7.4% had a current AUD, and 6.8% were considered labeled. Just 13.7% of those with current AUD met criteria for the first time in the past year (not shown in the table). Among persons who were labeled, 29.8% thought that they needed treatment or received it in the past year, and the remaining met these criteria prior to the past year (also not shown). Abstainers had the highest levels of PAS, and were the least likely to have close contact with persons with alcohol problems. PAS scores were similar across the drinking groups, regardless of affected status. Those meeting criteria for AUD were more likely to be male, and to have higher levels of close contact with other persons with alcohol use problems.
