Second, we found notable differences by race/ethnicity. In general, White men and women had a younger mean age at onset of drinking, younger mean age of onset of alcohol dependence, and faster progression from drinking initiation to dependence than Black and Hispanic men and women, respectively. These findings are consistent with other studies showing increased odds of ever using alcohol, earlier age of regular alcohol use, and higher prevalence of alcohol dependence in Whites when compared to Blacks or Hispanics (Hasin et al., 2007; Johnson et al., 2005; Kalaydjian et al., 2009). However, few studies have explored race/ethnicity differences in progression from drinking initiation to development of alcohol dependence. In a recent study, using both Waves of the NESARC, Lopez-Quintero and colleagues (in press) found that White alcohol users were more likely to transition to alcohol dependence than Black users but found no significant difference in the hazard of transitioning to dependence between Whites and Hispanics. Our study examines race/ethnicity differences in transition from use to dependence in a general population sample and builds on the existing literature by examining
