The effect of supportive familial relationships on social networks and recovery

Family members are often among the most important people in the social networks of those dealing with substance use disorders. The current study explored the effects of recovery-supportive family members on social network tie dynamics in recovery homes as well as recovery over time.

The sample included residents of 42 recovery homes in three states in the US. We collected data over a two-year period. We modeled the joint affiliation and recovery processes in Oxford House recovery houses over time using the Stochastic Actor-Oriented Model framework RSiena, in this observational study.

We found that if a resident had a family member they listed as one of their most important people, had regular contact with that family member, and the family member was not using alcohol or an illegal substance, the resident's rate of recovery was significantly higher than if no such family relationship was reported. However, such family support lowered the likelihood of a resident being perceived as a strong relationship partner by other house members. However, residents without supportive family connections, who are able to form strong ties to better-recovered peers in the recovery homes, also have better outcomes over time.

Residents with strong ties to supportive non-substance-using family members exhibit better recovery than those without such family connections. For these residents who have supportive family members, peer ties within the recovery home appear less critical for their recovery progress. Those residents who do not have supportive family ties also have better recovery as long as they have one or more resident ties to more recovered peers within the home. We discussed the implications of these findings.