ORIGINAL PAPER
Dynamics of neuroticism in the healing process of individuals addicted to alcohol
Submission date: 2014-06-29
Acceptance date: 2014-07-02
Online publication date: 2015-01-14
Publication date: 2015-01-14
Health Psychology Report 2015;3(1):69-84
KEYWORDS
neurotycznośćuzależnienie od alkoholuleczenieabstynencjaosobowośćneuroticismalcohol dependencetreatmentabstinencepersonality
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Background
Neuroticism conceptualised in the Five-Factor Personality Model indicates the level of adaptation. The objective of the study was to determine the dynamics of changes in neuroticism in association with the treatment of addiction to alcohol, and to compare these changes in the case of individuals maintaining a year-long abstinence and those who resumed the consumption of alcohol.
Participants and procedure
We conducted longitudinal studies. The first assessment was conducted on a group of 977 individuals. Neurotic traits were measured using the NEO-PI-R inventory at the initial stage of the treatment. During the second stage (after a year), the participants were tested again using the NEO-PI-R inventory. Abstinence was assessed on the basis of an interview, and we selected two subgroups: the ABS subgroup of patients succeeding in abstaining for a year (n = 116), and the nABS subgroup of non-abstainers (n = 73). In order to evaluate the dynamics of personality change in the scope of neurotic traits, the two-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used; the analysis involved one factor of the repeated assessment and one inter-group factor.
Results
Only those results that pointed to significant effects of change (η2p > .06) are described. Unlike in the nABS group, high variability was noted for Neuroticism (N: p < .001, η2p = .18) in the ABS group. Furthermore, in the ABS group, in contrast to the nABS group, there was a great decrease in constituent levels: N3 – Depression (p < .001, η2p = .13), N6 – Vulnerability (p < .001, η2p = .13), N1 – Anxiety (p < .001, η2p = .11), and N4 – Self-consciousness (p < .001, η2p = .10).
Conclusions
It has been established that neuroticism decreases in the case of patients who maintain abstinence for a year, which improves their ability to adapt. This change can make patients experience negative emotional states less frequently, and cope better in stressful situations. The level of depression is lowered, and impulse control improves, but only in the case of patients who have abstained from alcohol for a year.
Neuroticism conceptualised in the Five-Factor Personality Model indicates the level of adaptation. The objective of the study was to determine the dynamics of changes in neuroticism in association with the treatment of addiction to alcohol, and to compare these changes in the case of individuals maintaining a year-long abstinence and those who resumed the consumption of alcohol.
Participants and procedure
We conducted longitudinal studies. The first assessment was conducted on a group of 977 individuals. Neurotic traits were measured using the NEO-PI-R inventory at the initial stage of the treatment. During the second stage (after a year), the participants were tested again using the NEO-PI-R inventory. Abstinence was assessed on the basis of an interview, and we selected two subgroups: the ABS subgroup of patients succeeding in abstaining for a year (n = 116), and the nABS subgroup of non-abstainers (n = 73). In order to evaluate the dynamics of personality change in the scope of neurotic traits, the two-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used; the analysis involved one factor of the repeated assessment and one inter-group factor.
Results
Only those results that pointed to significant effects of change (η2p > .06) are described. Unlike in the nABS group, high variability was noted for Neuroticism (N: p < .001, η2p = .18) in the ABS group. Furthermore, in the ABS group, in contrast to the nABS group, there was a great decrease in constituent levels: N3 – Depression (p < .001, η2p = .13), N6 – Vulnerability (p < .001, η2p = .13), N1 – Anxiety (p < .001, η2p = .11), and N4 – Self-consciousness (p < .001, η2p = .10).
Conclusions
It has been established that neuroticism decreases in the case of patients who maintain abstinence for a year, which improves their ability to adapt. This change can make patients experience negative emotional states less frequently, and cope better in stressful situations. The level of depression is lowered, and impulse control improves, but only in the case of patients who have abstained from alcohol for a year.
Copyright: © Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk This is an Open Access journal, all articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.
Share
RELATED ARTICLE
| eISSN: | 2353-5571 |
| ISSN: | 2353-4184 |
We process personal data collected when visiting the website. The function of obtaining information about users and their behavior is carried out by voluntarily entered information in forms and saving cookies in end devices. Data, including cookies, are used to provide services, improve the user experience and to analyze the traffic in accordance with the Privacy policy. Data are also collected and processed by Google Analytics tool (more).
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
