It is generally estimated that 90 million Americans drink alcohol and that approximately 9 million of these may be considered alcoholics (or "problem drinkers"). Thus, the risk factor of becoming an alcoholic, if one drinks, would appear to be one in ten. The ghastly toll of alcohol abuse can be measured in terms of many billions of dollars of annual economic loss, a status of being the No. 3 or 4 killer of adults in the United States, participating in countless accidents, homocides, suicides, other violent crimes against persons, and in broken homes, and causing multisystem organ damage. Many of these effects do not require that chemical dependence has been established. However, dependence on alcohol is one of the principal hazards of alcohol use. What governs the likelihood of a given person becoming an alcoholic if he or she begins to drink? The three principal theories that treat the issue
George D. Lundberg (Mon,) studied this question.