The Nation - News from April 26, 1987

About one-fourth of all American homes have been afflicted by an alcohol-related family problem, according to a new Gallup Poll. This is the highest incidence of problem drinking in a Gallup trend dating to 1950 and twice the level recorded in 1974. Sixty-two percent of women and 72% of men say they at least occasionally take a drink of beer, wine or liquor. Despite women’s comparatively lower level of drinking, they are more apt than men, 29% to 19%, to say that drinking has been a cause of family trouble. People under 50, the college-educated, the affluent, Catholics and non-evangelicals are more apt to be drinkers than those from contrasting socioeconomic backgrounds, the survey found.