Psychiatric symptoms in polysubstance abusers: relationship to race, sex, and age.

The Symptom Check List 90R (SCL-90R) was administered to a sample of 94 polysubstance abusers seeking outpatient detoxification for opioid addiction. The relationships among race, sex, and age, and psychiatric symptoms were examined. Results obtained by an ANOVA indicated a significant effect only for race. White substance abusers reported significantly more psychiatric symptoms (on 9 out of 12 SCL-90R scales) than did Black substance abusers. A comparison of effect sizes between those found in the present study and those of related studies is also presented. Results suggest that race differences may be relevant to treatment resource and treatment planning.