The proposed research is designed to empirically establish the existence of a subtype of alcohol abuser whose maladaptive drinking is best understood as a means of initiating a self-handicapping strategy. Instances of self-handicapping behavior and self-handicapping alcohol abuse have been demonstrated in numerous laboratory investigations employing college student subjects. Moreover, recent research demonstrates that a self-handicapping attributional style is more prevalent among alcoholic patients than matched controls. Along with widespread anecdotal reports of clinical cases of alcohol abuse which conform to self-handicapping theory, available research data strongly suggest that a significant number of alcohol abusers initiate and sustain long-term patterns of alcohol abuse in an attempt to project and promote positive competency image. This formalized typology investigation is warranted by the expectation that a meaningful proportion of individuals with a diagnosed alcohol abuse disorder meet the self-handicapping criteria established by the Principal Investigator, and both treatment and alcohol abuse prevention will be aided materially by developing refined diagnostic criteria for alcoholic sub-types. Self-handicappers are thought to abuse alcohol in a strategic attempt to protect their self-conception and thereby achieve relief from feelings of evaluation apprehension or performance anxiety. Since self-handicapping has been shown to be an instance of strategic self-presentation, the proposed typology is based upon the social/perceptual attributes presumed """"""""operative"""""""" among those individuals likely to consume alcohol in the service of self-image protection. The present investigation is unique in developing an alcoholism typology which measures social cognitions and situational or interpersonal demands. The advantage of this approach over more traditional """"""""static"""""""" typologies derived from personality or trait factor analyses is the link between the typology and environmental factors that predict positive or negative post-treatment outcomes. Four types of individual differences measures will be administered to subjects and used in a multiple correlation analysis to predict the outcome of a formalized clinical interview developed, following RDC operational criteria, to discern a propensity to self-handicap. The validation of two scales developed by the Principal Investigator to assess a propensity to self-handicap and to respond with anxiety to situations which evoke performance expectations will also be a central research concern.
