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Integrating Computerized Linguistic and Social Network Analyses to Capture Addiction Recovery Capital in an Online Community
Published on: May 31, 2019
Sex differences in social support and self-efficacy within a recovery community
Margaret I Davis1, Leonard A Jason
1Psychology Department, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA 17013, USA. davismar@dickinson.edu
Abstract:
This study examined similarities and differences in social support and self-efficacy for abstinence between women and men recovering from substance addiction. The sample consisted of 87 residents of Oxford House (OH) self-run, community-based recovery homes. Analyses revealed similarities between women and men in terms of the composition and utilization of support networks and abstinence self-efficacy. Also, for both sexes, length of residency in OH was significantly related to decreased social support for alcohol and drug use and increased self-efficacy for abstinence. However, multiple-group SEM analyses demonstrated that social support for alcohol/drug use fully mediated the link between length of residency and abstinence self-efficacy for women, but not for men. Findings suggest that the process of gaining self-efficacy to remain abstinent is distinct for women and men, and that social support plays a different role in women's recovery than it does in men's.
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