Despite the greater socioeconomic disadvantage and problem severity of blacks compared to whites at baseline, similar alcohol outcomes emerged in association with formal substance use treatment utilization over seven years. Our finding of comparable alcohol outcomes from a longitudinal, observational study is consistent with results from the few treatment-based, randomized control trials assessing racial disparities in treatment outcomes (Brower and Carey, 2003; McKay et al., 2003; Morgenstern and Bux, 2003; Tonigan, 2003). Importantly, however, the present study’s assessment of these relationships over a seven-year period is longer than the typical 12-month timeframe employed in prior research. This suggests that these findings are robust over time.
