Alcohol Research Group

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  • The Center
    • About
          • ABOUT THE CENTER

            • History, Mission, & Focus
          • MEET THE DIRECTOR


            Senior Scientist, William (Bill) C. Kerr, PhD, is Director of ARG’s National Alcohol Research Center and Co-Directs the National Alcohol Survey and the Health Disparities projects.  Bill also serves as the scientific director at ARG and continues to lead R01 projects, including a grant to investigate secondhand harms from alcohol and other drugs.

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    • People
          • THE CENTER TEAM

            • Center Leadership
            • Scientific Advisory Board
            • Research Partners
          • MEET THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

            Scientist Nina Mulia, DrPH, is Center Associate Director and Director of the Alcohol Services project. She specializes in and has published widely on race and ethnicity and socioeconomic disparities in heavy drinking, alcohol problems, and alcohol services utilization.

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    • Research
          • CENTER RESEARCH

            • Cores
            • Research Projects
            • Affiliated Research
          • ASSESSING HID OVER THE LIFECOURSE

            This project, led by Camillia Lui, PhD, traces trends in harmful drinking patterns over a 40-year period, and identifies a range of alcohol-related precursors and problems through event-based and population-based approaches to inform early screening and interventions for high-risk groups.

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    • National Alcohol Surveys
          • ABOUT THE SURVEY

            • About the National Alcohol Survey
            • NAS Datasets
            • Get Access to the NAS data
          • MEET THE SURVEY CO-DIRECTOR

            Scientist and Deputy Scientific Director, Priscilla Martinez, oversees the survey design, data collection, and analyses.  In the latest cycle of the NAS, Priscilla conducted dried blood spot sampling to help better understand the relationship between how our immune systems work and what role they might play in how alcohol use can affect our mental health.

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  • Training Program
        • OVERVIEW

          • About the Training Program
          • Predoctoral Fellowship
          • Postdoctoral Fellowship
          • Seminars
        • APPLY NOW

          • Predoctoral Fellowship Application
          • Postdoctoral Fellowship Application
        • TRAINING STAFF

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  • Impacts
    • New Findings
    • In the News
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  • Data & Resources
    • Datasets
  • About
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    • Mission, Vision, Values & Goals
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Recent Findings

New Study Reveals Why Alcohol Use Increased During the Pandemic

April 2, 2025 by

PRESS RELEASE Shifting alcohol availability, accessibility, and coping strategies drove higher consumption A new study published today in PLOS One uncovers key social and environmental factors that drove a significant rise in alcohol consumption during COVID-19. Researchers from the Alcohol Research Group, a program of the Public Health Institute, found that increased alcohol availability and accessibility, and drinking as a coping mechanism, played a major role in shaping drinking … [Read more...]

Data disaggregation reveals hidden suicide risk

November 23, 2024 by

Invisible struggles: Data disaggregation reveals hidden suicide risk among Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander youth New research published today in JAMA Network Open highlights the critical need for data disaggregation — analyzing data by specific racial and ethnic groups rather than a single category — to reveal hidden risks of suicidal ideation among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA+NHPI) adolescents. By examining nine distinct AA+NHPI subgroups, … [Read more...]

Millions of Americans Hurt By Others’ Drinking, Drug Use: Study

November 21, 2024 by

by Amy Norton PISCATAWAY, NJ – The risks of alcohol and other drug consumption to the user are well known, but many Americans—nearly 160 million—say they’ve been harmed by someone else’s substance use, according to a new study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. In a national survey of U.S. adults, researchers found that 34% said they’d ever suffered “secondhand harm” from someone else’s alcohol use—ranging from marriage and family problems to financial fall-out to being … [Read more...]

Alcohol Consumption Trends Across Disadvantaged Populations

September 4, 2024 by

Results from new US study suggest beverage-specific policies could help mitigate alcohol-related health risks among vulnerable populations A recent U.S. study is the first to identify alcoholic beverage preferences among demographic subpopulations who face heightened alcohol-related health risks, including those with lower socioeconomic status (SES), minoritized groups, and heavy drinkers.  Published in Drug and Alcohol Review, the study analyzed a sample of over 37,000 adults who … [Read more...]

Socioeconomic status may determine how alcohol affects heart health

June 4, 2024 by

New research reveals that alcohol's association with heart disease mortality differs across socioeconomic groups A new study led by researchers at the Alcohol Research Group, a program of the Public Health Institute, is the first U.S. study to examine how a person's socioeconomic status (SES) modifies the relationship between alcohol consumption and ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading causes of death in the U.S., with IHD being a significant … [Read more...]

Alcohol and Drug Use Cause Significant Harms that Go Beyond the Individual

June 3, 2024 by

Among study respondents, 34.2% experienced secondhand harms from alcohol, 5.5% from cannabis, 7.6% from opioids, and 8.3% from other drugs. Press Release: A new study estimates that over their lifetime, more than a third of U.S. adults or 113 million people are harmed from someone else’s drinking while 46 million experience harms from someone’s else’s drug use. The study, conducted by the Alcohol Research Group, a program of the Public Health Institute, in collaboration with RTI … [Read more...]

Hidden differences: Intersectional study uncovers stark variations in substance use treatment completion

February 1, 2024 by

New research is the first to use an intersectional approach to examine differences in the completion of alcohol treatment, finds striking sex and race-based variations Emeryville, CA (February 1, 2024) Completion rates for alcohol treatment are significantly lower for racially and ethnically minoritized women compared to White men, according to a new study led by scientists at the Alcohol Research Group's (ARG) National Alcohol Research Center, a program of the Public Health Institute, in … [Read more...]

Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Younger Adults are Less Likely to Attend AA

January 30, 2024 by

AA attendance lower among African American, Hispanic and young populations By Amy Norton Alcoholics Anonymous has long been a cornerstone of treating alcohol use disorders in the United States. But even today, Americans are not accessing it equally, according to a new study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA, got its start nearly 90 years ago and is famous for spurring the "12-step" approach to recovery -- which includes acknowledging powerlessness … [Read more...]

New Study Reveals Disparities in At-Risk Drinking Among People with Diabetes, Cancer, or a Heart Condition

October 19, 2023 by

September 19, 2023 --New research published in The Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, found that older non-Hispanic white adults with diabetes or a heart condition were less likely to engage in at-risk drinking than their counterparts without any of four major health conditions, including diabetes, cancer, hypertension, and heart conditions. However, among older Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Asian adults, at-risk drinking rates were similar between individuals living with and … [Read more...]

Defining recovery — as people in recovery see it

September 18, 2023 by

US study asks almost 10,000 people in recovery from substance use how they define recovery and identifies shared elements that may help support an addiction-free life Emeryville, CA (September 18, 2023) A new study found that when asking people in recovery from a substance use disorder (SUD) how they define recovery, over 90% agreed that recovery is comprised of four key elements: A process of growth and development; Being honest with myself; Taking responsibility for the things I … [Read more...]

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Latest News

May 2nd, 2025
The Long-Term Impact of Childhood Adversity on Adolescent and Young Adult Substance Use
April 10th, 2025
Understanding Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicide Risk Among Youth
April 8th, 2025
How Flawed Science Could Shape U.S. Alcohol Guidelines
April 2nd, 2025
New Study Reveals Why Alcohol Use Increased During the Pandemic
March 18th, 2025
When Health and Alcohol Mix: Insights on High-Risk Drinking

Recent Findings

April 2nd, 2025
New Study Reveals Why Alcohol Use Increased During the Pandemic
November 23rd, 2024
Data disaggregation reveals hidden suicide risk
November 21st, 2024
Millions of Americans Hurt By Others’ Drinking, Drug Use: Study
September 4th, 2024
Alcohol Consumption Trends Across Disadvantaged Populations
June 4th, 2024
Socioeconomic status may determine how alcohol affects heart health

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Who We Are

About ARG

We are a non-profit research organization that seeks to improve public health through deepening our understanding of alcohol and other drug use and investigating innovative approaches to reduce its consequences for individuals, families, and communities.

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