<?Pub Inc> The purpose of this study was to examine male and female adult alcoholics in their first year of sobriety who were in new intimate relationships and those not in these types of relationships (i.e., married/cohabitating or single) on three dimensions of interpersonal factors, self-efficacy for abstinence, and psychological well-being and determine if support from a new intimate relationship could enhance self-efficacy and psychological well-being that were hypothesized to contribute to abstinence. A secondary purpose was to determine if self-efficacy to abstain from drinking mediated the relationship between interpersonal factors from the relationship partner and psychological well-being.
A total of 176 male and female adult alcoholics who were in their first year of abstinence and attending AA were place into three groups: single, married/cohabitating, and new intimate relationship. Eight instruments were used to collect data.
Statistically significant differences were found among the three groups on self-efficacy and well being. Singles had significantly lower scores on self-efficacy and well-being when compared with the new intimate and married/cohabitating groups. No statistically significant differences were found for interpersonal factors, self-efficacy, or well-being between the new intimate and married/cohabitating groups. Females had higher levels of interpersonal factors of support and self-efficacy to abstain than males.
Self-efficacy to abstain partially mediated the relationship between quality of support and well-being. Self-efficacy to abstain had a direct effect on the relationship between the interpersonal factor, quality, and well-being in new intimate relationships for males but not for females in new intimate relationships or males and females in the married/cohabitating groups.
Psychological well-being could be predicted from quality, as a measure of interpersonal factors for males in new intimate relationships and from function for married/cohabitating males. Self-efficacy predicted well-being for males in new intimate relationships, as well as for males and females in the married/cohabitating groups. Well-being was predicted from structure in married/cohabitating females. Well-being also could be predicted from age (single group), partner supportive of abstinence (intimate group), and household income (married/cohabitating group). Additional research is needed to understand how developing new intimate relationships could help in the recovery process for alcoholics.
