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

            Senior 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
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        • APPLY NOW

          • Predoctoral Fellowship Application
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        • TRAINING STAFF

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  • Impacts
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Recent Findings

COVID-19 Study Finds More Drinking, but Fewer Drinkers

June 26, 2022 by

US national study compares alcohol consumption before COVID-19 to after and finds significant changes in who is drinking and how much Emeryville, CA (June 26, 2022) — A new study published today in the journal, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, found that alcohol consumption patterns changed significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when compared to the pre-pandemic period.  While the proportions of the population that was drinking and drinking with a risky pattern declined, … [Read more...]

For Black Americans, Low Socioeconomic Position and Adverse School Experiences Earlier in Life Linked to Heavy Drinking in Adulthood

March 23, 2022 by

Press Release EMERYVILLE, CA -- A new longitudinal study examining how educational and socioeconomic experiences during adolescence can lead to midlife (ages 42-52) heavy drinking among Black Americans has found significant pathways connecting the two. Led by researchers at the Alcohol Research Group (ARG), a program of the Public Health Institute and released in Addiction, the study examined data on individuals followed more than 30 years and included analyses of adolescent poverty and … [Read more...]

Living on the U.S.-Mexico Border Protects Against Substance Use Mortality

March 10, 2022 by

Emeryville, CA – People living in US counties on the US-Mexico border are less likely to die of alcohol- and drug-related consequences than people living in off-border counties, according to a new study by researchers at the Alcohol Research Group (ARG), a program of the Public Health Institute. The study is the first to use data from all four US border states to examine whether people living in border counties have higher or lower rates of alcohol- and drug-related mortality compared to people … [Read more...]

Project Offers First Look at Location, Needs, and Service Gaps of Recovery Housing

January 11, 2022 by

Emeryville, CA--While some have offered estimates of the number of recovery residences in the U.S., the National Study of Treatment and Addiction Recovery Residences (NSTARR), a joint effort between the Public Health Institute’s Alcohol Research Group and RTI International, a nonprofit research institute, is the first to systematically collect information on how many recovery residences there are in the country and where they are located. Results of the project were recently published in Drug … [Read more...]

Childhood Adversity Plays a Large Role in Heavy Alcohol Use

September 22, 2021 by

ARG Study Finds Childhood Trauma and History of Family Alcohol Problems Increase Likelihood of High Intensity Drinking, Particularly among Indigenous American Drinkers Press Release Emeryville, CA (September 20, 2021) – In new research that compares drinking rates across racial/ethnic groups, American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) current drinkers report more instances of high intensity drinking (eight or more drinks in any one day) than Whites and other groups combined. However, when … [Read more...]

Victims of Female-Perpetrated Sexual Violence More Likely Assaulted by Someone They Know

September 3, 2021 by

In a new study looking at the characteristics of victims and perpetrators of female-perpetuated sexual assault (FPSA), found that, for assaults that happened in childhood, victims were most likely perpetrated by people with whom they had a relationship such as friends, classmates, family members, and babysitters. Victimization by authority figures, including teachers and coaches, was less common. Only 1.8% were victims of strangers. On average, victimization occurred between 11 and 12 years of … [Read more...]

Campaign Launches to Let Young Women Know Alcohol Causes Breast Cancer

April 3, 2021 by

#DrinkLessForYourBreasts urges women to help spread the word about breast cancer risk Eighty percent of women are unaware that drinking alcohol increases their risk of developing breast cancer1, yet in the United States, there are approximately 19,000 cases of alcohol-attributable breast cancer each year. The #DrinkLessForYourBreasts initiative—the first of its kind in the U.S.—seeks to bridge this gap through a social media campaign aimed at young women in California. With an estimated 7% … [Read more...]

Connected Neighbors Experience far Fewer Harms from Someone Else’s Drinking

March 17, 2021 by

Neighbors Who Feel Connected to One Another Experience far Fewer Harms from Someone Else’s Alcohol Use Press Release People living in neighborhoods with higher levels of social cohesion experience fewer harms from a stranger's drinking, according to a new study from the Alcohol Research Group (ARG), a program of the Public Health Institute. Published today in Alcohol and Alcoholism, the study examined the ways a neighborhood's social environment—alcohol availability, places where people drink, … [Read more...]

Cannabis Causes Fewer Harms to Others than Alcohol

January 12, 2021 by

Cannabis Can Hurt More than Just the User but Poses Less Risk to Others than Alcohol Press Release Findings from the first-ever study of marijuana’s secondhand harms show that fewer harms were attributed to someone else’s cannabis use than from secondhand drinking. The new research from the Alcohol Research Group, a program of the Public Health Institute, and RTI International, a nonprofit research institute, was conducted using 2014 to 2016 data from Washington State where recreational … [Read more...]

Injury-related Hospitalizations Rise After Liquor Sales Go Private

November 12, 2020 by

New research shows an increased rate of hospitalizations for accidental injuries in urban areas after Washington State privatized their liquor sales. The study found an additional 17,498 hospitalizations in metropolitan-urban counties in the 2.5 years after Initiative 1183 was passed compared to neighboring Oregon. Non-metropolitan-urban and rural counties did not see their hospitalization rates change. Initiative 1183 called for closing state-run liquor stores and allowing state licensing of … [Read more...]

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Latest News

February 28th, 2026
Support groups for alcohol use disorder are more effective when they are attended in person
January 29th, 2026
Understanding Family Burden from Others’ Substance Use
January 2nd, 2026
Webinar Series: Overcoming Barriers to Opioid Treatment Research in Recovery Housing
December 31st, 2025
In the News: Scientist Priscilla Martinez Discusses the Unpublished Alcohol Intake and Health Study
December 29th, 2025
How People with Substance Use Disorder Can Benefit from Different Types of Support Groups

Recent Findings

January 29th, 2026
Understanding Family Burden from Others’ Substance Use
December 15th, 2025
How Neighborhoods and Culture Shape Alcohol Problems in Young Mexican Americans
November 15th, 2025
Exploring Links Between Substance Use Combinations and Mental Health Wellness in College Students
April 2nd, 2025
New Study Reveals Why Alcohol Use Increased During the Pandemic
November 23rd, 2024
Data disaggregation reveals hidden suicide risk

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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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