The relationship between relapse and involvement in alcoholics anonymous

Recovering alcoholic members (N = 59) of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) were asked to complete a questionnaire to assess the occurrence of relapse and its correlation to their level of involvement in the A.A. program. The questionnaire was distributed to five different A.A. groups. Subjects were asked to rate themselves, using a Likert scale, on their level of involvement in the A.A. program and were also asked to state if they had relapsed during the course of their involvement with A.A. and if so, to indicate their most recent relapse. Depending on their answers to the relapse question, subjects were placed in either a relapse or a no relapse group. The level of involvement in A.A. was found to be related to whether relapse occurred. Those in the relapse group rated themselves lower in every area of involvement listed on the questionnaire than those in the no relapse group. The most significant area of involvement, where the greatest differences between subjects in each group were found, was in reaching out to other members of A.A. for help and in the use of a sponsor.