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ii This study examines the alcohol drinking patterns and symptoms of adults in the United States to explore characteristics of older adults ’ alcohol consumption and symptoms and to compare those relative to younger adults. Because older adults assume different roles than younger adults, the study also examined the associations between retirement and marital status with drinking behavior to determine if the roles of retirement or widowhood that are common to older adults are related to drinking behavior and the presence of alcohol use disorders (AUDs). The strength of this study is the use of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol Related Conditions, a national survey of over 43,000 non-institutionalized United States of America residents that provides external validity that is not present in other studies of older adult drinking that relied on clinical or community-based samples. This study is based on the theoretical perspectives of biological effects of aging, and the life course perspective combined with role theory. These theoretical perspective