In summary, the extant literature on disparities in treatment outcomes is sparse but suggests that there are few racial differences in the effects of formal and informal treatment on alcohol-related outcomes. If anything, prior studies imply that minorities might benefit more from treatment, as they typically enter with greater problem severity and less favorable conditions. Perhaps the most important limitations of prior research, however, are the very short-term follow-up periods; the small samples of minorities; and the question of generalizability to minority problem drinkers beyond the confines of clinical trials. In the current study, we seek to address these limitations by drawing upon data from a community-based longitudinal study of treated and untreated problem drinkers followed over seven years. Comparing black and white problem drinkers, we investigate the effects of formal and informal treatment on abstinence, and specifically assess whether these effects are similar across the two racial groups.
