The literature on predictors of better long-term outcomes in alcohol and drug treatment patients indicates that better substance use outcomes are predicted by individual characteristics, such as female gender, older age, dependence type, health problems, lower levels of alcohol and drug severity, lower levels of psychiatric problem severity, and abstinence goals (Charney et al., 2005; Klein et al., 2002; Mertens et al., 2008; Ray et al., 2005; Satre et al., 2007; Weisner et al., 2003); treatment characteristics, such as longer duration of treatment and readmission (Chi et al., 2006; Ghose, 2008; Gottheil et al., 1992; Green et al., 2004; Mertens et al., 2005; Weisner et al., 2003); and extra-treatment characteristics such as 12-step participation (Kaskutas et al., 2003-2004; Ray et al., 2005; Weisner et al., 2003; Zemore and Kaskutas, 2008).
