Retention of driving-under-the-influence offenders in alcoholism treatment

The race, age, education, marital status, employment status, occupational level, prior treatment status, and SCL-90-R Global Severity Index scores of 244 men admitted to a 90-day outpatient treatment program for alcoholism, following their arrests for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol, were analyzed to determine whether or not these psychosocial characteristics were related to completing treatment. A stepwise discriminant analysis indicated that age, the SCL-90-R Global Severity Index, and current employment differentiated between offenders who completed and did not complete treatment. Older employed men complaining of less intense symptoms were more likely to finish treatment than younger unemployed men complaining of more intense symptoms.