12-Step Involvement and Treatment Outcomes Among Young Women With Substance Use Disorders

Abstract

The extent to which young women with substance use disorders (SUDs) affiliate with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or other 12-Step groups is currently unclear. This administrative data analysis examined 12-Step involvement and its impact on outcome during the first 6 months following treatment among a sample of young adults attending 12-step–based residential treatment. Young women were just as likely as similar-aged young men to attend 12-Step meetings and engage in prescribed 12-Step practices like getting a sponsor. Frequency of meeting attendance predicted abstinence status and number of drinking days at 6 months in women, whereas 12-Step experiences (e.g., getting a sponsor, considering oneself an AA member) predicted drinking days in men. The results contribute to knowledge of SUDs and their treatment among women in their late teens and early twenties, a population that has been quite understudied in the literature.

KEYWORDS:

• Treatment outcome
• 12-step involvement
• young women
• substance use disorders

Notes

**denotes p < .01.

**denotes a significant difference between men and women at the .01 level.

***p < .001.

**p < .01.

*p < .05.

***p < .001.

**p < .01.

*p < .05.

*p < .05.

*p < .05.