The relationship of pretreatment family functioning to drinking behavior during follow-up by alcoholic patients

The relationship of alcoholics' perceptions of the pretreatment functioning of their families to drinking outcomes during an 18-month follow-up was examined. Family functioning was hypothesized to be predictive of drinking behavior, particularly in subjects with low assertion of autonomy scores. These individuals report greater dependency and attachment, and therefore might be more affected by the state of important relationships. The results indicated that with low autonomy male alcoholics, greater family dysfunction predicted significantly fewer days abstinent during Months 1-6 and 13-18 and more severe drinking episodes during the first year of the follow-up. In the high autonomy males, family dysfunction was unrelated to subsequent drinking behavior. In women, on the other hand, greater family dysfunction predicted more days abstinent in those high in autonomy and was unrelated to the drinking behavior of those low in autonomy. Implications for patient-treatment matching, differences between male and female alcoholics, and the need for additional studies of family functioning and drinking behavior in women are discussed.