The relationship between interpersonal factors and drinking outcomes of women recovering from alcohol use disorders: testing the potential mediational role of intra-individual factors

Aim: To test the validity of four proposed mediators of the impact of alcohol-specific social support on drinking outcomes: coping, motivation, negative affect and self-efficacy. Method: Participants included 158 women participating in two Cognitive Behavior Therapy clinical trials. All participants completed an extensive battery of assessments prior to treatment entry, just post-treatment (three-months) and six months post-treatment. The measures used for this study included the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory to assess negative affect, the Coping Behaviours Inventory to assess coping, the Important People and Activities Interview to assess social support for drinking and for not drinking, the Situational Confidence Questionnaire to assess self-efficacy, the Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale to assess motivation, and the Timeline Follow-back Interview to assess drinking frequency and intensity. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to construct latent models of each of the proposed mediators. Structural equation models were then constructed and estimated to evaluate the hypothesized mediational models. Results: Coping and self-efficacy at the end of treatment were predictive of drinking frequency and intensity at six month post-treatment follow-up, and negative affect and motivation at the end of treatment were predictive of drinking frequency at six month post-treatment follow-up. However, neither coping, negative affect, nor self-efficacy was predicted significantly by abstinence-specific social support. Motivation was negatively predicted by support for drinking, but not by support for not drinking. The relationship between support for drinking and drinking frequency was found to be partially mediated by motivation. Conclusion: Motivation may be a mechanism by which social support exerts its effect on drinking outcomes. More work is needed to further probe the potential roles of each of these variables in mediational models and to understand the mechanisms by which general social support impacts drinking outcomes.M.S.Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-77)

Processes underlying dysfunctional interpersonal behavior and the prediction of drinking outcomes

The present study tested a theoretically-derived model of several proposed underlying processes of dysfunctional interpersonal behavior (impulsivity, compulsivity, emotion dysregulation and rejection sensitivity) and the relationships among dysfunctional interpersonal behavior, low social support and problem alcohol use. Support was found for three of the proposed underlying processes of dysfunctional interpersonal behavior- emotion dysregulation, rejection sensitivity and compulsivity were found to statistically predict dysfunctional interpersonal behavior in the expected direction. However, impulsivity was found to be associated with dysfunctional interpersonal behavior in the direction opposite to that that which was hypothesized. Support was also found for the hypothesized relationship between dysfunctional interpersonal behavior and low social support, though social support was associated with problem drinking in the direction opposite to that which was hypothesized. Limitations of this study included the restricted nature of the sample (all college students), the atypical racial composition of the sample, and the cross-sectional design of the study. Future studies should examine the proposed model in a clinical sample of individuals with Alcohol Use Disorders. Such studies should also utilize longitudinal designs and incorporate multiple measures of constructs.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Dorian Hunter Ree