Research on treatment disparities has focused mostly on treatment access and utilization, and has yielded mixed findings (Cohen et al., 2007; Keyes et al., 2008; Wells et al., 2001; Wu and Ringwalt, 2005). However, the confounding of race/ethnicity, problem severity and services utilization may obscure differences in treatment use (Schmidt et al., 2006; Schmidt et al., 2007). Studies further indicate that racial/ethnic minorities may have a less optimal experience of treatment compared to whites (Brower and Carey, 2003; Schmidt et al., 2006; Tonigan, 2003a) and that they may be less likely to complete alcoholism treatment (Bluthenthal et al., 2007). A large study of publicly funded treatment in Los Angeles County found that African Americans were less likely than whites to complete their alcohol treatment/recovery plans, and that this was due in part to differences in economic resources (Jacobson et al., 2007).
