Alcoholism and depressive symptomatology among convicted DWI men and women

Interrelationships between DMS-III-based alcoholism diagnostic groups and depressive symptomatology were assessed for a sample of 461 convicted DWI offenders. The highest rate of depressive symptomatology was reported by persons diagnosed as alcohol dependent, and such findings were robust across male and female offenders. However, a significant interaction effect was found in which alcohol-dependent women reported higher levels of depressive symptomatology than alcohol-dependent men. With the exception that men reported significantly more previous DWI arrests than women, few differences were found between the gender groups with respect to a range of demographic variables, alcohol use and alcohol-related problems.