Abstract
This paper considers the relationship between involvement in leisure activities and the resolution of alcoholism by patients who attended a private inpatient alcoholism treatment hospital in the Southwest. Baseline data were derived from self-administered questionnaires and extensive, on-site interviews with 458 patients who were admitted to the facility between February, 1979, and May, 1980. Followup information was obtained through telephone interviews with patients 6 months after discharge from the facility.
While previous research efforts have suggested that the alcoholic person is “passive” with respect to the expenditure of social energy, this paper explores the reverse hypothesis; i.e.; that the alcoholic is an “active” participant in leisure activities. Further questions addressed include the relationship between abstinence and the extent of leisure involvement, type of leisure pursued (particularly group-oriented versus solitary activities), and changes in the direction of energies from baseline to 6 months. Finally, this paper examines the applicability of a social control perspective (e.g., Hirschi, 1969) to the resolution of alcoholism by assessing the extent to which the degree of involvement is related to successful maintenance of sobriety—regardless of the type of activity pursued. For those patients who reported drinking at 6 months, consideration is given to the level of alcohol consumption. Statistical controls include measures of age, sex, marital status, and baseline severity.
Working from within an input-process-output model of evaluation, discriminant function analyses are conducted in an attempt to assess the relationships among baseline severity, leisure involvement, and patients' drinking status 6 months post-admission. Discussion of the results of this study include an examination of the applicability of a theory-based model of social integration to research regarding the resolution of alcoholism. Possible directions for future research efforts are offered.
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