Do Personality, Alcohol Abstinence Self-Efficacy, and Depressive Symptomatology Affect Abstinence Status in Treatment-Seeking Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder?

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 25;19(15):9023. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159023.

Abstract

Given the high global incidence and disabling nature of alcohol use disorders, alongside high relapse rates, we sought to investigate potential predictors of abstinence, considered a prerequisite of full remission. With an aim to examine (i) the effect of personality, alcohol abstinence self-efficacy, and depressive symptomatology on abstinence status as our primary objective, and (ii) interactions between these three factors, as well as (iii) their changes over time as two secondary objectives, we recruited 51 inpatients at an alcohol rehabilitation center to complete the International Personality Item Pool, the Alcohol Abstinence Self-Efficacy Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory, and to provide information on abstinence attainment 2 months post-treatment. Although regression analyses revealed no evidence for the effect of the investigated factors (personality, self-efficacy, or depressive symptoms) on post-therapy abstinence, other findings emerged, demonstrating (i) a significant reduction in the severity of depressive symptoms, (ii) the effect of personality and alcohol abstinence self-efficacy on depressive symptom severity, and (iii) the role of personality in predicting the temptation to use alcohol in recovering drinkers. These preliminary indications of links between personality, self-efficacy, and subjective well-being mark a promising area for future research on powerful and relevant cues of relapse and abstinence efficacy.

Keywords: alcohol abstinence self-efficacy; alcohol use disorders (AUDs); depression; personality.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alcohol Abstinence
  • Alcoholism* / diagnosis
  • Humans
  • Personality
  • Personality Inventory
  • Recurrence
  • Self Efficacy

Grants and funding

The study is unconditionally funded by the “Baltic Game Industry—Empowering a Booster for Regional Development “(BGI) grant, which is part of the Interreg Baltic Sea Region (BSR), supported by the European Union’s Regional Development fund. Contact information: Christine Sauter, Tel.: +49-(030)-809-94-113, bgi@bgz-berlin.de. BGI/BSR have neither reviewed our protocol in its present form nor has the funding partner imposed any specific constraint or requirements for our study. We are granted full scientific authority to design and conduct this study, and BGI/BSR will not have any or be involved in the interpretation, reporting or publishing the results. Project funded under the Ministry of Science and Higher Education program called “Regional Excellence Initiative” in 2019–2022, project number 002/RID/2018/19, funding amount 12,000,000 PLN”.