The general objective of the proposed project is to further the understanding of the processes that underlie relapse into alcohol use among persons who have been treated for alcoholism. The nature of the research is such that it has implications both for the problem of failing to complete treatment once it is begun, and for the broader problem of relapse following successful treatment. The project will examine the effects of a set of variables derived from a control-process model of behavioral self-regulation. Thus, the research has theoretical as well as pragmatic implications. The reasoning behind the research stems from three core assumptions: The first is that when large and relatively fixed discrepancies exist between one's present state and one's desired state in some important behavioral domain, focusing attention inward to the self is aversive and promotes an impulse to disengage from further consideration of the domain. The second is that alcohol use represents one way in which persons strategically reduce their levels of self-focus, thus avoiding focusing on the threatening discrepancy. The third is that an important moderator of this disengagement may be the person's degree of confidence or doubt concerning ultimate discrepancy reduction (i.e., good outcomes). We propose to study 300 persons who have begun treatment for alcoholism in one of three treatment facilities. Self-reports will be collected at several points in time concerning recent stressful life events, level of dispositional self-focus, and level of expectancies concerning important life outcomes. Subjects' progress through the treatment program will be monitored as one dependent variable. Follow-up measures of life events and current levels of alcohol consumption will be taken 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, and 11 months following completion of treatment, with relapse as the second major dependent variable. Predictions in all cases focus on the combination of high self-focus plus unfavorable expectancies (defined in several different ways) as a predictor of early return to alcohol use.
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