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ASYMMETRY OF INFLUENCE IN ALCOHOLICS' MARITAL COMMUNICATION: ALCOHOL'S EFFECTS ON INTERACTION DOMINANCE *
Author(s) -
Frankenstein William,
Nathan Peter E.,
Hay William M.,
Sullivan Robert F.,
Cocco Karen
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.1985.tb00033.x
Subject(s) - psychology , dominance (genetics) , perception , alcohol , clinical psychology , marital therapy , social psychology , developmental psychology , biochemistry , chemistry , neuroscience , gene
Eight couples participated in a study of dominance in alcoholics' marriages. Data for this investigation were derived from pretreatment assessment materials, a study on alcohol's effects on marital communication, and a study of insiders' and outsiders' perceptions of marital interaction. Little support was found for the contention that alcoholics are submissive or less influential when compared to their spouses. While alcoholics perceive themselves as submissive, on behavioral measures they are not. Alcohol may function to reduce the discrepancy between alcoholics' perceptions of their influencing ability and their actual performance. This would support current models of alcoholism and marriage which attribute adaptive consequences to drinking.