A total of 1,110 persons age 20 or over were interviewed regarding their experiences of victimization by violence or threats of violence during the previous 12 months. The police records covered April 1977 through March 1978 and partly overlapped the interview data. Results showed that more than half of the most recent occasions on which participants were subjected to physical violence were preceded by alcohol use by the assailants, the victims, or both. In addition, perpetrators, victims, or both had been drinking in 42 percent of the violent crimes in the city. Thus, the connection between alcohol and aggression is present in large segments of the general population. However, further research and theory development are needed regarding not only aggression and alcohol, but also the other types of behavior, such as laughing and showing other positive emotions, that are more common in drinking situations in the general population. The results indicated that much research oversimplifies drunken behavior by focusing solely or mainly on aggression or violence. Tables, methodological appendixes, index, and 249 references