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Can young people and teenagers go to A.A.?

In short:

  • Nothing in the Big Book, the Traditions or the other A.A. literature in our sources sets a minimum age. The Long Form of the Third Tradition says "Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism." (p. 563), and the short form's only requirement is "a desire to stop drinking" (p. 562).
  • The 1939 text says only a little about young people, and it isn't about who can join. Chapter 3 warns that young drinkers may think they can quit on will power, and doubts many can (p. 33). It adds that some members aged thirty or under "found themselves as helpless as those who had been drinking twenty years" (p. 33).
  • Later editions record young members. The Foreword to the Third Edition (1976) reports that 7 percent of members surveyed were under 30, "among them, many in their teens." (p. xxii), and a footnote in current printings says a 2003 survey found about one-fifth of members were thirty and under (p. 34).
  • Today's group pamphlet lists "young people" among the specialized A.A. groups members form (P-16, 2018). Fourth-edition stories include members who came to A.A. at seventeen and eighteen (pp. 285, 309).

What the Traditions say about membership

The Long Form of Tradition Three (1946): "Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity." (p. 563). The short form: "The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking." (p. 562). Neither mentions age. The 1939 Foreword's wording was "The only requirement for membership is an honest desire to stop drinking." (p. xiv).

Bill W.'s 1946 Grapevine piece that the Third Tradition grew out of tells how groups once made long lists of membership rules, and how "If all of these edicts had been in force everywhere at once it would have been practically impossible for any alcoholic to have ever joined Alcoholics Anonymous." (P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?," 1946). It says: "He joins us on his own say-so." (P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?," 1946), though it adds that "Membership rules still exist." in some groups (P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?," 1946). See: What is the only requirement for membership? and Can anyone be thrown out of A.A.?

What the 1939 text says about young people

The passage people sometimes cite is in Chapter 3 (pp. 32–34). It follows the story of a man who stayed dry for twenty-five years on his own will power, then drank at fifty-five and died within four years (pp. 32–33). The book then says:

  • "Young people may be encouraged by this man's experience to think that they can stop, as he did, on their own will power." (p. 33). The writers doubt many can, "because none will really want to stop" and because of "the peculiar mental twist already acquired" (p. 33).
  • "Several of our crowd, men of thirty or less, had been drinking only a few years, but they found themselves as helpless as those who had been drinking twenty years." (p. 33)
  • "To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have." (p. 33)
  • The writers "see large numbers of potential alcoholics among young people everywhere. But try and get them to see it!" (pp. 33–34)

So the 1939 point is that youth is no protection against alcoholism, and that young drinkers are hard to convince. It is a warning about will power, not a rule about membership. The footnote on p. 34 says that statement was "True when this book was first published." and gives the 2003 survey figure (p. 34).

Young members in the history

  • A.A. number four, Ernie G., was "a wild, devil-may-care young fellow, 30 years old at the time" (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980). Bill W. called his arrival "the beginning of A.A.'s young people's department" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). Pass It On says he was "almost too young" in his sponsors' eyes (Pass It On, 1984), and that he stayed sober a year before a seven-month slip (Pass It On, 1984).
  • Dorothy S. remembered phoning Dr. Bob about her husband Clarence, then 34, and being told "There's never been anyone that young come into the Fellowship and recover." (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980). The same book suggests this may have been one of Dr. Bob's tactics to make a newcomer prove he was ready (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980). Dr. Bob then relented and gave her the address of a member in Cleveland (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980).
  • Bill W. writes that in the 1941–1945 period "younger folks began to appear," along with people who still had jobs, homes and health (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957).

These are history books, not program text, and they describe the 1930s and 1940s. The "young" members they name were in their early thirties.

Young members in later editions

  • Second edition (1955). Its preface, as quoted in Experience, Strength and Hope, said "Our membership now includes many young people." (Experience, Strength and Hope, 2003). Pass It On says the second edition added "more stories from younger members" (Pass It On, 1984).
  • Third edition (1976). "Seven percent of the A.A.'s surveyed are less than 30 years of age—among them, many in their teens." (p. xxii)
  • Fourth edition (2001). The new stories represent a membership whose characteristics "of age, gender, race, and culture" have widened (p. xxiii). Among them, a member writes that she came through A.A.'s doors "at age seventeen, a walking contradiction" (p. 309), and another, whose therapist had highlighted the young people's meetings on a meeting list for him, "I was eighteen years old." (p. 285). These are members' stories, not program text.

Young people's groups today

P-16, The A.A. Group (2018): "Some A.A.s come together as specialized A.A. groups — for men, women, young people, doctors, LGBTQ+ and others." (P-16, 2018). It adds that such groups are A.A. groups if the members are all alcoholics and "they open the door to all alcoholics who seek help" (P-16, 2018). A.A. also publishes a pamphlet, Young People in A.A., which the Service Manual describes as stories of "Ten young A.A.'s —16 to 27" (A.A. Service Manual, 2024–2026 edition). That pamphlet isn't in our sources.

What our sources don't settle

All our sources were searched for "minimum age," "age limit," "age requirement," "under 18," "under eighteen," "underage" and "too young"; none of them sets an age for membership ("too young" turns up in members' stories, in the Ernie and Clarence passages above, and as the title of a cartoon pamphlet for teenagers in a list of A.A. literature printed with A.A. Comes of Age; "underage" appears once, in a parable of Bill W.'s about something else, Pass It On, 1984). The books here don't address the practical questions a parent or a teenager may have: whether a particular meeting expects a minor to come with an adult, or how local law treats minors at meetings. Nothing in this literature sets an age rule, and under Tradition Four each group runs its own affairs (p. 563). The way to find out about a particular meeting is to ask that group or the local central office or intergroup.

Read it yourself

Sources

Source Pages Date
Alcoholics Anonymous, Foreword to the First Edition; Chapter 3 xiv; 32–34 1939 (the p. 34 footnote is from a printing after 2003)
Alcoholics Anonymous, Appendix I, Long Form and short form 562–563 1946 (Long Form); short form by 1950
Alcoholics Anonymous, Foreword to the Third Edition xxii 1976
Alcoholics Anonymous, Foreword to the Fourth Edition xxiii 2001
Members' stories, "The Missing Link" and "My Chance to Live" 285, 309 fourth edition (2001)
P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?" (Bill W.) — 1946
A.A. Comes of Age — 1957
Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers — 1980
Pass It On — 1984
Experience, Strength and Hope (quoting the 1955 second edition) — 2003
P-16, The A.A. Group — 2018
The A.A. Service Manual — 2024–2026 edition

Page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001).

Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book is © A.A. World Services, Inc. P-17's articles are © AA Grapevine, Inc.

These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.