Gender Differences in Substance Use Treatment Entry and Retention Among Prisoners With Substance Use Histories

OBJECTIVES: We examined gender similarities and differences in the predictors of substance use treatment entry and of the combination of treatment entry and completion. METHODS: The sample consisted of 2219 male and female program participants. Maximum likelihood probit estimation was used to identify background and attitudinal characteristics predictive of substance use treatment entry and retention. RESULTS: We observed gender similarities and differences in predictors of treatment entry and the combination of treatment entry and completion. Many of the factors that attract individuals to treatment are the same ones that keep individuals in treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Attitudinal predictors-namely, motivation to change-showed the greatest consistency between genders and between predictors of treatment entry and predictors of treatment entry and completion.