Preliminary data have been analyzed on a sample of 70 African American and 70 Caucasian alcoholics using the SADS-L and the results will be published. This is primarily a sample of alcoholics matched by age, gender and socioeconomic level. Results indicate a racial difference when alcoholism is secondary: Caucasians manifest more anxiety and African Americans more depression; Caucasians smoked more nicotine and drank more caffeine than African Americans. Gender differences were indicated: there were more males than females with a diagnosis of alcoholism only (without any other comorbidity) and the reverse was true for females who had a later onset of alcoholism than males of the same racial group. Analyses will be undertaken on a larger sample using the SCID I & II after publication of the first paper.
