erse health effects than in younger individuals (Blow & Barry, 2000). Research has shown that comparable amounts of alcohol will produce higher blood alcohol levels in older adults than in younger adults. Moreover, comparable blood alcohol levels create a greater level of impairment for the older individual. Along with these increased effects is the potential for alcohol to be mixed with various medications that many older adults are consuming. What may be unique to the older adult population is that many of these alcohol problems may be masked by social, medical, and/or psychological conditions. The majority of the research on alcohol use has focused on drinking among the general population. The older adult population, however, may have distinctive patterns of alcohol consumption and alcohol-related consequences, social issues, and treatment needs (Adams & Cox, 1995; Blow & Barry, 2000). Traditional treatment programs for alcohol abuse and dependence provide very few services to older adults and, therefore, present inadequate sample sizes for treatment outcome studies (Blow & Barry, 2000). Walton et al. (2000) noted that previous research examining the course of alcohol problems recruited from non-treatment settings have not included older adults. Current trends in the population (i.e., the increase of alcohol use in general and the growth of the older adult population) suggest there will be an increase in the number of older individuals with alcohol related problems. Although there has been an increase in the interest and research
             of this issue, there remains relatively little research available to aid in our understanding of alcohol use among the older adult popula
             ...