Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-rkxrd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T15:07:23.911Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The perception of drinking roles by recovering problem drinkers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

John McCartney  and
Patrick J. O'Donnell
John McCartney*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow
Patrick J. O'Donnell
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow
*
1 Address for correspondence: Mr J. McCartney, Department of Psychology, Washington Singer Laboratories, Exeter University, Exeter EX4 4QG.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The perception of and attitude to drinking patterns in recovering problem drinkers (N = 29) is analysed, utilizing a similar methodology to that of Richard & Burley (1978). Fault is found, however, in the latter study both in a failure to define variables and in the authors' statistical handling of the results. In the present study, it was found that controlled drinking is only seen as close to the problem drinker's concept of himself when it entails reasonably high levels of consumption. The importance of this finding for therapy is outlined. The possible negative effects of role conflict are mentioned. It is also found that problem drinkers perceive themselves as having quite different characteristics from those they themselves attribute to alcoholics. This finding is interpreted in terms of the fundamental attribution error (Jones & Nisbett, 1972).

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , November 1981 , pp. 747 - 754
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Armor, D. J., Polich, J. M. & Stambul, H. B. (1976). Alcoholism and Treatment. Prepared for the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Rand Corporation: Santa Monica, Ca.Google Scholar
Edwards, G., Gross, M. M. & Keller, M. (1977). Alcohol-related Disabilities. WHO Offset Publication No. 32. WHO: Geneva.Google Scholar
Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford University Press: Stanford, Ca.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fransella, F. (1968). Self concepts and the stutterer. British Journal of Psychiatry 114, 1531–1535.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodgson, R. (1979). Much ado about nothing much: alcoholism treatment and the Rand Report. British Journal of Addiction 74, 227–234.Google ScholarPubMed
Hodgson, R., Stockwell, T., Rankin, H. & Edwards, G. (1978). Alcohol dependence: the concept, its utility and measurement. British Journal of Addiction 73, 339–342.Google ScholarPubMed
Hoy, R. M. (1973). The meaning of alcoholism for alcoholics: a repertory grid study. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 12, 98–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoy, R. M. (1977). Some findings concerning beliefs about alcoholism. British Journal of Medical Psychology 50, 227–235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hudson, L. (1968). Frames of Mind: Ability Perception and Self-Perception in the Arts and Sciences. Methuen: London.Google Scholar
Jones, E. E. & Nisbett, R. E. (1972). The actor and the observer. Divergent perceptions of the causes of behaviour. In Attribution: Perceiving the Causes of Behaviour (ed. Jones, E., Kanouse, D., Kelley, H., Nisbett, R., Valins, I. and Weiner, B.), pp. 79–94. General Learning Press: Morristown, NJ.Google Scholar
Kahn, R. L., Wolfe, D. M., Quinn, R. P. & Snoek, H. D. (1964). Organisational Stress. Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Lloyd, R. W. & Salzberg, H. C. (1975). Controlled social drinking: an alternative to abstinence as a treatment goal for some alcohol abusers. Psychological Bulletin 82, 815–842.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Madden, J. R. (1979). A Guide to Alcohol and Drug Dependence. Wright: Bristol.Google Scholar
Miller, W. R. & Caddy, G. R. (1977). Abstinence and controlled drinking in the treatment of problem drinkers. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol 38, 986–1003.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Orford, J., Oppenheimer, E. & Edwards, G. (1976). Abstinence or control: the outcome for excessive drinkers two years after consultation. Behaviour Research and Therapy 14, 409–418.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J. & Tannenbaum, P. M. (1957). The Measurement of Meaning. University of Illinois Press: Illinois.Google Scholar
Pattison, E. M., Headley, E. B., Glesser, G. C. & Gottschalk, L. A. (1968). Abstinence and normal drinking. Assessment of changes in drinking pattern in alcoholics after treatment. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol 29, 610–633.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pokorny, A. D., Miller, B. A. & Kaplan, M. B. (1972). The brief MAST: a shortened version of the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test. American Journal of Psychiatry 129, 342–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richard, G. P. & Burley, P. M. (1978). Alcoholics' beliefs about and attitudes to controlled drinking and total abstinence. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 17, 159–163.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Royal College of Psychiatrists (1979). Alcohol and Alcoholism. Report of a Special Committee. Tavistock: London.Google Scholar
Siegel, S. (1956). Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioural Sciences. McGraw Hill: New York.Google Scholar
Skinner, H. A. (1981). Primary syndromes of alcohol abuse: their measurement and correlates. British Journal of Addiction 76, 63–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed