Compared to the earlier survival analysis examining the impact of help-seeking (Dawson et al., 2006a), the present study did not replicate the weak positive association of formal treatment only (no 12-step) with both AR and NR. Arguably, when data on recovery and treatment are collected retrospectively, as in the prior analysis, the likelihood of recalling brief sources of formal treatment such as physician advice to stop drinking may be greater among people who thought it contributed to their having achieved recovery. The resulting detection bias might have inflated the positive association between formal treatment and recovery. Participation in 12-step programs, generally more sustained and active in nature, is unlikely to be forgotten regardless of recovery and may be less susceptible to this type of bias. The present study also failed to replicate the earlier positive association between NR and recent help-seeking including 12-step; however it did find a positive association that fell just short of our cutoff for reporting findings of marginal significance (OR = 2.72, p=.119).
