Date of Award

6-6-2001

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling Psychology & Community Services

First Advisor

Sue C. Jacobs

Abstract

Persons who are in recovery from addiction to alcohol or other drugs are expected to give up what is often their main coping resource: the maladaptive use of an addictive substance. Yet, typically, recovery programs do not contain a formalized stress-management component. This study examines recovering addicts' spontaneous use of adaptive coping resources, as well as exploring the connection between personality and preferred resources. Personality was assessed using the Revised NEO-Personality Inventory. The use of coping resources was assessed using the Coping Resource Inventory. In addition, participants also completed a short demographic questionnaire for exploratory analysis of possible links between personality, drug(s) of choice, and use of coping resources. As might be expected, participants in this sample made significantly less use of coping resources overall compared to the normative sample. They also made less use of each individual resource: cognitive, social, emotional, spiritual/philosophical and physical. Further, personality variables of neuroticism and extroversion stood out as predictors of coping resources. Individuals' drug-of-choice preference was not related to choice of coping resource, or to overall use of resources. Neuroticism was negatively associated with the use of both cognitive and social coping resources, as well as to total resources. Extroversion also stood out as a predictor of coping resources: extroversion scores were positively related to cognitive, social and emotional resources.

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