George A A, Tucker J A
Department of Psychology, Auburn University, Alabama 36849, USA.
J Stud Alcohol. 1996 Jul;57(4):449-57. doi: 10.15288/jsa.1996.57.449.
The role of problem drinkers' social contexts in help-seeking patterns was investigated using recent entrants into outpatient alcoholism treatment or Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Untreated, active problem drinkers served as controls.
Subjects (N = 45, with 15 per group: 62% male) were recruited from the community. Habitual drinking practices, social network characteristics, social support, help-seeking barriers and incentives, and event occurrences during the 2 years prior to help-seeking were assessed during structured interviews. Collaterals verified subject reports.
Alcohol-related psychosocial problems and social network characteristics specific to drinking and help-seeking differentiated the groups, whereas drinking practices, general measures of social support and event occurrences did not. Both groups who sought help reported less network encouragement to drink, more network encouragement to seek help and greater alcohol-related psychosocial problems compared to untreated problem drinkers. AA participants also received more conflicting messages about seeking help than did treatment participants, and features of AA variously attracted and repelled different problem drinkers.
The findings indicate the importance of separating alcohol-specific social influences on help-seeking from more general social contextual variables and provide a social basis for distinguishing the appeal of AA from that of formal treatment. The results generally concur with studies of help-seeking for other medical and psychological disorders and support a common approach that emphasizes the social nature of help-seeking and focuses on functional rather than structural influences.
通过近期进入门诊酒精成瘾治疗项目或戒酒互助会（AA）的人员，研究问题饮酒者的社会环境在寻求帮助模式中的作用。未接受治疗的活跃问题饮酒者作为对照。
从社区招募受试者（N = 45，每组15人：62%为男性）。在结构化访谈中评估习惯性饮酒行为、社交网络特征、社会支持、寻求帮助的障碍和动机，以及寻求帮助前两年内的事件发生情况。旁证核实受试者报告。
与饮酒及寻求帮助相关的酒精所致心理社会问题和社交网络特征使两组有所区分，而饮酒行为、社会支持的一般衡量指标和事件发生情况则不然。与未接受治疗的问题饮酒者相比，寻求帮助的两组均报告称来自社交网络的饮酒鼓励较少，寻求帮助的鼓励较多，且酒精所致心理社会问题更多。与接受治疗的参与者相比，参加戒酒互助会的参与者在寻求帮助方面也收到了更多相互矛盾的信息，戒酒互助会的特点对不同的问题饮酒者有不同的吸引力和排斥力。
研究结果表明，将特定于酒精的寻求帮助的社会影响与更一般的社会环境变量区分开来很重要，并为区分戒酒互助会与正规治疗的吸引力提供了社会基础。结果总体上与针对其他医学和心理障碍寻求帮助的研究一致，并支持一种强调寻求帮助的社会性质且关注功能而非结构影响的通用方法。
