title: Concepts of alcoholism among whites, blacks and Hispanics in the United States.
abstract: This article describes agreement with tenets associated with the disease concept of alcoholism among whites, blacks and Hispanics in the U.S. population. Data were obtained from a multistage probability sample of the household population of white, black and Hispanic adults aged 18 years and over residing in the 48 contiguous states. The response rate was 73% for whites, 76% for blacks and 72% for Hispanics. Results show a widespread support for the notion that alcoholism is a disease, independent of ethnicity. However, 40% of the whites, 62% of the blacks and 60% of the Hispanics who agree that alcoholism is an illness also agree that the alcoholic is a morally weak individual.
authors.affiliation: Alcohol Research Group, Medical Research Institute of San Francisco, California 94709.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Caetano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D012803:Sick Role