The sample consisted of 184 convicted drunk-driving offenders; 81 were first-time drunk-driving offenders, and 103 were repeat offenders. Two urban counties in New York State were used as sources for the sample. The study focused on the depression, anxiety, psychoticism, somatization, and obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions of the SCL-90-R self-report psychopathology inventory. The results show a linear trend for the levels of psychiatric symptomatology. Non-patient normals and nondependent drunk-driving offenders reported lower levels of symptomatology than alcohol- dependent drunk-driving offenders, and alcohol-dependent offenders reported lower levels of symptomatology than psychiatric outpatients. Once there was control for alcohol dependence, however, no differences were found in the levels of symptomatology for first and repeat offenders. This suggests that the utility of psychiatric severity resides in the association with an alcohol diagnosis. Thus, the use of psychiatric symptom checklists could prove useful for identifying potential problem drinkers and problem areas that may be addressed in any treatment or intervention planning for individuals. 2 tables and 8 references