Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Correlates of Alcoholics Anonymous affiliation among justice -involved women  
 
Version: 1 Date: 21 Apr 2018  
 
Reviewer: Vivia V. McCutcheon  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
The authors have satisfied all but one of my previous comments. The sample recruited for this 
study, and the measures used, will contribute valuab le information to the study and treatment of 
women with severe alcohol problems who enter the criminal justice system. I encourage the 
authors to address the methodological issue remaining (below) to add this study to the literature.  
The author response t o my comment #5 is inadequate. The authors state that they used censored 
regression because 25% of observations had a lower limit of 0 for AA attendance. Censored 
regression is appropriate when the dependent variable is censored, that is, where the upper o r 
lower values of a variable in fact represent some cases that have higher or lower values that were 
censored at the given value (e.g., if a measuring instrument does not cover all possible values, so 
that values higher than those covered by the instrument  are censored at the instrument highest 
value). In this study, censored regression would be appropriate if it were possible for subjects to 
have attended AA fewer than 0 times, but that is not possible. The method chosen here does not 
fit the structure of the data.  
There are some interesting correlations among variables in Table 2 that might be worthy of 
mention, e.g., the positive association of alcohol self -stigma with limited choice and perceived 
stress, and negative association with self -care and housi ng. It is of course up to the authors 
whether to bring this into results and discussion; I realize this table is an addition suggested by 
Reviewer 2.  
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If no t, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by t he data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an  
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further  
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscr ipt: 
 
Needs some language corrections before being published  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, fund ing, or salary from an  
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this  
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose  
financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the  
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that  
holds  or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the above, w rite 'I declare that I have no competing interests' 
below.  If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
I declare that I have no competing interests.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understand that my name will be includ ed 
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, my named report  
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along with the authors'  
responses.  I agree for my report to be made available under an Open Access Creative Commons 
CC-BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments 
which I do  not wish to be included in my named report can be included as confidenti al comments 
to the  editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal