Community surveys reveal that about 6% of the adult male and 1% of the adult female population in England and Wales are drinking at high risk levels.

Alcohol Problems in the Community examines the implications of recent community care legislation for government policy on alcohol. The first part of the book begins with a report on recent US research on the role of alcohol in the perpetration of child abuse and recent research on young people's drinking problems. This is followed by a study on the prevalence of drinking problems amongst older people which has been underestimated. In the second half of the book empirical evidence is presented on the particular difficulties faced by ethnic, migrant and homeless groups and this emphasis on the centrality of social disadvantage leads on to a consideration of a specific social work role in the assessment and management of alcohol-related problems.

Alcohol Problems in the Community is aimed at social work practitioners and students on prequalifying, qualifying and postqualifying social work courses, and it addresses key social work issues in relation to poverty, homelessness, discrimination and drinking problems.