Some stats about Alcoholics Anonymous
One of the questions most often asked by professionals about Alcoholics Anonymous is "How effective is A.A.?"
A.A. does not keep track of individual members or do case studies, and its members remain anonymous, making that question a difficult one to answer. While many outside of A.A. have conducted research into the question, the only statistical information available from A.A. about itself are anonymous surveys of the A.A. Fellowship, which have been conducted by its General Service Office every three years since 1968. These surveys offer an overview of current trends in membership characteristics, with the purposes of sharing information about A.A. membership with professionals and giving A.A. more information about itself so members can better help suffering alcoholics.
Rresults of the 2004 random membership survey were recently published and provide a snapshot of the A.A. Fellowship. The 2004 questionnaires were distributed last summer to 714 A.A. groups in the U.S. and Canada. More than 7,500 members, old and young, participated in the survey. A full 50 percent of respondents had been sober more than five years (up from 48 percent in 2001); 24 percent for one to five years; and 26 percent less than one year.
More than 8 percent of the respondents were under 30 years old, with 1.5 percent under 20, and 4.8 percent over 70. The average member is 48, has been sober more than eight years and attends about two meetings a week.
Findings reveal that professionals play a key role in steering active alcoholics to A.A. -- 39 percent of respondents said they had been referred by a health-care professional. Additionally, 64 percent said that before joining the program, they had received some type of treatment or counseling -- medical, psychological, spiritual -- and 74 percent of those same members said it had played an important part in guiding them to A.A. Moreover, some 65 percent said they had received some type of treatment or counseling after coming to A.A.; and 84 percent of those same members said it played an important role in their recoveries.
Other survey results confirm the staying power of some positive and interesting trends tracked over the past decade. The percentage of women in A.A. -- which climbed sharply from 22 percent in 1968 to 35 percent in 1989, then dipped to 33 percent in 1996 -- has held steady in the mid-30 percentile and presently stands at 35 percent of membership.
Members' occupations continue to cover a broad spectrum and reflect statistically insignificant changes from the last survey: retired, 14 percent; self-employed/other, 11 percent; manager/administrator, 10 percent; professional/technical, 10 percent; skilled trade, 9 percent; laborer, 6 percent; health professional, 6 percent; sales worker, 5 percent; service worker, educator, clerical worker, student, all 3 percent; homemaker and transportation workers, each 2 percent; craft worker, 1 percent; and disabled (not working) and unemployed, both 6 percent.
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