NCJ Number
197940
Journal
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly Volume: 20 Issue: 1 Dated: 2002 Pages: 61-77
Date Published
2002
Length
17 pages
Annotation
In this article, sobriety among three ethnic groups is compared assessing the impact of both spirituality and individuals’ involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous.
Abstract
This article examines the impacts of spirituality and religiousness and involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in contributing to the sobriety of African-Americans, Caucasians, and Hispanics. Following a brief literature review documenting membership in AA as 5 percent for African-Americans, 4 percent for Hispanics, and 91 percent for Caucasians, the authors detail recent literature focusing on the relationships of religiousness and spirituality and membership in AA. Data for this study were drawn from a northern California county research laboratory setting that has been home to the Alcohol Research Group’s Community Epidemiology Laboratory since 1984. Research participants included 253 African-Americans, 60 Hispanics, and 538 Caucasians who completed survey questionnaires concerning religiosity and AA participation. Survey results indicated that those individuals who considered themselves more religious were less likely to substitute church attendance for participation in AA, reporting both high church attendance and high levels of attendance at AA meetings. Furthermore, African-Americans who reported high attendance at both AA meetings and at church were more likely to report sobriety over the past 30 days than were those African-Americans who reported only high church attendance. For Hispanics and Caucasians, high levels of AA meeting attendance, alone, contributed to reports of 30 day sobriety. Tables, references