Women of color face significantly lower alcohol treatment completion rates compared to white men, according to a groundbreaking intersectional study published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. The study, which analyzed 600,000 discharge records from U.S. substance use treatment facilities, found that Black, Latina, American Indian, and Native Alaskan women experience completion rates 9 to 12 percentage points lower than white men.
The research, the first to examine intersectional disparities in alcohol treatment completion in the U.S., highlights the compounded effects of multiple marginalized identities. While women overall complete treatment at slightly lower rates than men, the disparities for racial and ethnic minoritized women are more pronounced.
In the gender-only model, women’s completion rate was 55%, four percentage points lower than men. The race and ethnicity model showed white adults with a 60% completion rate, higher than Black, Latinx, and American Indian and Alaska Native adults. However, the intersectional analysis revealed even greater disparities.
Researchers suggest these disparities may reflect differences in access to treatment, quality of services, and satisfaction with treatment. Factors such as childcare, transportation, insurance, job flexibility, and stigma may disproportionately affect women of color.
The study’s large dataset, drawn from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Treatment Episode Data Set-Discharges, ensures statistical significance of all findings. Researchers call for future studies to examine disparities in other intersectional groups and explore sociopolitical and sociocultural factors contributing to these disparities.
See “Study of alcohol treatment completion reveals greater disparities for women of color” (February 1, 2024)
