title: Rates of attrition among the membership of Alcoholics Anonymous in Finland.
abstract: Anniversary announcements published in the national AA newsletter are used to analyze membership turnover in Finnish AA. Of the total membership with at least 1 year of sobriety, close to 90% continue as sober members for another year. Of those having 1 year of sobriety, about two-thirds survive to the next year. The survival rate of members with between 2 and 5 years of sobriety is about 85%. Among members with more than 5 years of sobriety, the survival rate is above 90%. There are no gender differences in survival rates. The sober membership of AA represents between one-third and one-fifth of general population survey estimates of the number of abstaining former frequent drinkers with concerns about losing control over their drinking behavior.
authors.affiliation: Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies, Helsinki.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mäkelä
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000436:Alcoholics Anonymous; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013695:Temperance / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data