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 effectiv eness for ethnic minorities. Project MATCH, a multisite research study aime d at developing guidelines for assigning alcoholics to appropriate treatmen t approaches, also assessed AA effectiveness for minority clients. Some dif ferences in AA attendance existed among white, African-American, and Hispan ic Project MATCH participants who had received some inpatient treatment bef ore entering the study, but not among participants who had not received inp atient treatment. Further analyses of white and Hispanic Project MA TCH par ticipants demonstrated that although Hispanic clients attended AA less freq uently than white clients, their involvement with and commitment to AA was higher than among white clients. For both Hispanics and whites, AA involvem ent predicted increased abstinence.