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Couples' reciprocal patterns in narcotics addiction: A recommendation on treatment strategy
Author(s) -
Powers Keiko I.,
Anglin M. Douglas
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1520-6793(199612)13:8<769::aid-mar4>3.0.co;2-d
Subject(s) - spouse , addiction , psychology , intervention (counseling) , conformity , reciprocal , methadone maintenance , clinical psychology , methadone , social psychology , psychiatry , linguistics , philosophy , sociology , anthropology
Couples that include an addict establish over time a stable pattern of deviant behavior that is reciprocally influenced by each spouse's level of drug use. Adequate intervention strategies must understand this dynamic in order to promote successful change. This article describes how behavioral patterns of narcotics addicts are affected by their spouses' addictive consumption of drugs. Analyses are conducted for men and women separately to explore gender differences with the use of retrospective self‐report data on addiction histories collected from over 600 addicts who were admitted to methadone maintenance clinics in Southern California. Time‐series analyses are conducted at the aggregate level to examine dynamic relationships between self's and spouse's narcotics use and other behaviors (e.g., employment, crime involvement, and alcohol use). Results indicate gender differences in conformity to spouse's drug use, especially for women, and in the effects of addiction on the related behaviors. These results suggest that intervention efforts should extend to addicts' partners in addition to the addicts themselves. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.