More generally, the population can be subdivided into adolescents, young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults; accurate information on drinking behaviors and related consequences is important for each of these groups. Among adolescents and young adults, alcohol consumption from an early age can have long-term effects on the trajectory of drinking and health consequences across the life course (Patrick et al. 2013); moreover, these two age groups represent the peak age of onset for AUD (Hasin et al. 2007). Middle-aged adults are important to study because many people whose AUD began in young adulthood “mature out” of such a disorder in this age group (Dawson et al. 2005, 2006; Lee et al. 2013; Watson and Sher 1998); further, the mean age of individuals with AUD is 42.2 years (Cohen et al. 2007). Finally, it is essential to examine alcohol use in older adults, because alcohol consumption in this age group can exacerbate many pre-existing vulnerabilities to physical and mental health problems (Sacco et al. 2009).
