The Relationship between AUDIT Scores and Mental Health Counseling among Korean Adults 20 Years Old or Over

This study tries to examine the relationship between AUDIT scores and mental problem counseling among Korean adults
20 years old or over. The source of this research is the raw data contained in the Korea Health Statistics 2012: Korea
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, KNHANES v-3 published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and
the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). From the raw data, the respondents who were below 20
years old, and did not answer any of the ten AUDIT questions were excluded, and, finally, 4681 respondents were used for
analysis. The data was analyzed with the SPSS Version 12.0 WIN program. The analysis found that those who belong to the
problematic drinking group seek mental problem counseling 2.4 times as often as those who belong to the normal drinking
group (p<.01), and that those who belong to the alcoholic abuse and dependence group did it 2.8 times as often as those
who belong to the normal drinking group (p<.05). The analysis found that the problematic drinking group and the alcohol
abuse and dependence group were related with mental problem counseling. To solve the problem, it seems necessary to
establish an institution designed to build sound drinking culture and reduce mental problems.