The prevalence and correlates of alcohol use disorders in the United States and Korea—a cross-national comparative study

The purpose of this study was to compare the prevalence rates of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition 12-month diagnoses of alcohol use disorders between the United States and South Korea using two large nationally representative surveys. Cross-tabulations were used to derive weighted prevalences of alcohol abuse and dependence, and odds ratio derived from linear logistic regression analyses were used to determine the relationships between alcohol abuse and dependence across sociodemographic characteristics of the general population samples. The prevalence of 12-month alcohol abuse was greater in the United States (5.3%) than Korea (2.0%), whereas the rate of alcohol dependence was greater in Korea (5.1%) compared with the United States (4.4%). The odds of abuse were significantly greater among men, and in the youngest age groups in both countries. There was increased odds of 12-month dependence among men, and those who were employed or never married in each country. Further, the rates of abuse and dependence in the United States and of abuse in Korea decreased as a function of age, a result that did not generalize to dependence among Koreans. The implications of the results of this study are discussed in terms of national differences between the United States and Korea as the result of gender roles and drinking patterns, and the need to understand the potential influence of the cultural applicability and specificity of psychiatric assessment interviews across countries.