Special Populations in Alcoholics Anonymous

The vast majority of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) members in the United States are white, and only a few studies have investigated the program’s effectiveness for ethnic minorities. Project MATCH, a multisite research study aimed at developing guidelines for assigning alcoholics to appropriate treatment approaches, also assessed AA effectiveness for minority clients. Some differences in AA attendance existed among white, African-American, and Hispanic Project MATCH participants who had received some inpatient treatment before entering the study, but not among participants who had not received inpatient treatment. Further analyses of white and Hispanic Project MATCH participants demonstrated that although Hispanic clients attended AA less frequently than white clients, their involvement with and commitment to AA was higher than among white clients. For both Hispanics and whites, AA involvement predicted increased abstinence.