[Verification of control in alcoholism research. Review of the literature and theoretical relations].

After a literature review about 45 studies on control orientations in alcoholism research, which focus literature from 1977 to 1986, the theoretical background of these studies is discussed. In contrast to the earlier findings, which were founded upon onedimensional measures of generalized locus of control, the results of recent studies, which use multidimensional or domain-specific measures of control orientations, show consistently, (1) that alcoholics before and at the beginning of a treatment have low internality, higher powerful others externality, and especially high chance control orientations, (2) that control orientations have a special diagnostic value for alcoholics, (3) that internality increases during inpatient treatments, and (4) that control orientations measured before or at the beginning of a treatment are comparatively good predictors of treatment effects (treatment dropouts, abstinence, relapse). There are too first empirical hints for the indicative value of control orientations for special treatment programs. Besides the hypothesis of loss of control in drinking and the approach of social-cognitive learning theory to alcoholism a developmental, action-theoretical founded model of drug abuse is described, which can not only integrate recent results on control orientations in alcoholism research but also opens perspectives for a more systematic, theory-based research.