To investigate whether men and women think alike about drinking and the effects of alcohol, the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire was administered to 440 college students, 120 medical patients, and 305 alcoholics in residential treatment. Previous and current drinking patterns and background information were also examined. Subjects were grouped by…

The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes held by counseling psychologists about alcoholics and alcoholism, and to determine the relationship between these attitudes and the individual's level of experience, knowledge and training in the alcoholism domain. Although counseling psychologists typically deal with developmental issues,…

Alcohol studies, like most psychological studies, have traditionally focused on males. Several psychosocial theories have been used to explain male alcoholism, including dependency, the power drive, and sex role theory. This latter stance may provide a theoretical framework for the etiology of drinking which will apply to both sexes; however,…

While extensive research has examined the personality of the alcoholic, current interest centers on the use of differential treatment for different personality types. The aim of such treatment is to focus on the disorder underlying the problem of alcoholism for each particular patient. To look for relationships among personality variables,…

Many mental health professionals ignore chemical addiction, whereas many chemical dependency professionals see addiction as the entire problem and ignore everything else. This study investigated differences between addicts and non-addicts on the Tennessee Self Concept Scale. Subjects were undergraduate and graduate students, selected from a…

While sex-role identification and conflict have been cited as factors in alcoholism, only a few studies have used the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) to measure the feminine, masculine, and androgynous traits of alcoholics. One such study was replicated by having subjects rate both their real and ideal selves. A randomized factorial analysis used…

Research has shown that many psychiatric inpatients are alcoholics and that a significant number of these alcoholics are not being diagnosed or treated for their drinking problems. The incidence of heavy drinking among psychiatric outpatients and the extent to which psychotherapists are aware of their drinking behaviors were assessed. A…

Causes and expressions of alcohol abuse in both men and women were examined in this study. Subjects (N=365 women and N=1,657 men), all of whom were first admissions to the Alcoholism Division of the Denver Fort Logan Mental Health Center, described their drinking symptoms and behavior patterns after excessive drinking. Over 60 symptoms were…

In the last few years, a vast amount of research has accumulated with respect to American children's use of legal and illicit drugs. This research has included cross-sectional studies (which have attempted to determine current drug usage, age of onset for each drug used, and maximum frequency of use in the lifetime); longitudinal studies (which…

Several reasons exist for the wide variation in estimates on the prevalence of alcohol abuse among women from one study to another. An attempt to establish the prevalence of alcohol abuse among both men and women in the working population employed the Short Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (SMAST) and the Iowa Alcoholic Stages Index (ASI) as…

For many years researchers have investigated the relationship between alcohol consumption and human aggression. A "policy-capturing" methodology was used to determine how judgments of responsibility for aggressive behavior are influenced by information about a person's alcohol consumption, sex, and degree of injury to a victim. Male subjects (N=8)…

While alcoholism and problem drinking is not as prevalent among women as men it nonetheless is a serious health concern, deserving greater attention. Investigation results comparing the consumption and problem drinking patterns of women with men finds that lower consumption rates among females cannot be explained by body weight as men drink more…

Psychological studies on personality characteristics obtained from individuals prior to being diagnosed as alcoholics are reviewed. Retrospective studies suggesting an association between childhood anti-social behavior and the subsequent problem of alcoholism are presented, supported by studies of the personality inventories of college students…

Several theories of the alcoholic personality have been devised to determine the relationship between the clusters of personality characteristics of alcoholics and their abuse of alcohol. The oldest and probably best known theory is the dependency theory, formulated in the tradition of classical psychoanalysis, which associates the alcoholic's…

Researchers surveyed 78 clients in drug abuse treatment facilities to determine their perceptions regarding factors related to their use and abuse of drugs. About 40% of the sample began using drugs between 11 and 15 years of age. Males tended to begin using drugs at an earlier age than did females. Over 90% of participants reported using drugs…