Interesting new research described in this summary. Supports the conclusions that AA provides roughly equal benefits for men and women but that the benefit types may be different.
Appears to be reasonably good research.
Women and men appear to benefit in different ways from AA participation December 5, 2012
A new study finds differences in the ways that participation in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) helps men and women maintain sobriety. Two Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators found that, while many factors are helpful to all AA participants, some were stronger in men and some in women. For example, avoidance of companions who encourage drinking and social situations in which drinking is common had more powerful benefits for men, while increased confidence in the ability to avoid drinking while feeling sad, depressed or anxious appeared to be more important for women. Their report will appear in Drug and Alcohol Dependence and has been released online.
"Men and women benefit equally from participation in AA, but some of the ways in which they benefit differ in nature and in magnitude," says John F. Kelly, PhD, associate director of the MGH Center for Addiction Medicine. "These differences may reflect differing recovery challenges related to gender-based social roles and the contexts in which drinking is likely to occur."
Kelly and his co-author Bettina B. Hoeppner, PhD, note that, while AA was founded by men, one-third of its members today are women. Studies have found that women benefit at least as much as men from participation, and many women become deeply involved in the AA program. The researchers carried out some of the first studies identifying the behavioral changes behind the success of AA participation, and this report is the first to examine whether the benefits differ between men and women.
Kelly and Hoeppner analyzed data from more than 1,700 participants, 24 percent of whom were women, enrolled in a federally funded trial called Project MATCH that compared three approaches to alcohol addiction treatment. Participants in the trial were free to attend AA meetings along with the specific treatment program to which they were assigned. At several follow-up sessions, participants reported their success in maintaining sobriety, whether or not they were attending AA meetings, and completed specialized assessments of factors like their confidence in their ability to stay sober in particular situations and whether or not their social contacts supported or discouraged efforts to maintain abstinence.
In September 2011, Kelly, Hoeppner and colleagues reported in the journal Addiction that increased confidence in the ability to maintain abstinence in social situations and spending more time with people who supported abstinence were the behavioral changes most strongly associated with successful recovery among overall Project MATCH participants attending AA meetings. The current study reanalyzed some of the data used in the Addiction study to see if there were differences between men and women in the impact of factors included in the assessments.
For both men and women, participation in AA increased confidence in the ability to cope with high-risk drinking situations and increased the number of social contacts who supported recovery efforts. But the effect of both of those changes on the ability to abstain from drinking was about twice as strong for men as for women. In contrast, women benefitted much more than men from improved confidence in their ability to abstain during times when they were sad or depressed. "It is striking that this effect was virtually absent in men while it was a major contributor to women's ability to remain abstinent and to limit the number of drinks they consumed when they did drink," says Hoeppner. Several factors that helped to reduce the intensity of drinking in men such as less depression and fewer friends who encouraged drinking did not appear to be as important for helping women.
Kelly says,"AA helps both men and women stay sober following treatment by enhancing sober social networks and boosting confidence in coping with high-risk social situations. In terms of alcoholism recovery more generally, we found the ability to handle negative moods and emotions was important for women but not for men. Conversely, coping with high-risk social situations which could be attending sports or other events where people are likely to drink was important for men but not women. These differences suggests that, for women, finding alternative ways to cope with negative emotions may yield recovery benefits, while among men, a greater focus on coping with social occasions that feature drinking may enhance recovery.
"In terms of drinking intensity the number of drinks consumed on days when someone does drink because the variables we studied explained only about half of the effects of AA for women, there must be other factors involved that were not captured in our analysis," he adds. "More work is required to fully capture the biopsychosocial effects of AA participation for enhancing alcohol addiction recovery, particularly among women."
I was pretty amazed that people actually seemed to like me better when I wasn't the babbling drunk at the party. I learned that I was much more social not drinking. Social drinking was a miserable failure for me.
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Rob
"There ain't no Coupe DeVille hiding in the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box."
This relates to some reseach I studied in grad school about type 1 versus type 2 alcholism.
Basically, the theory is that type 1 alchoholism is comprised more commonly of females and individuals that drink due to diffiulties with depression and anxiety. The type 2 alcoholic is more commonly male and that type of alcoholism develops earlier, is more genetic, more prone to arrests and aggression and violence.
Hence, you have 2 clusters of people here. Men who have anger problems and socialization problems with alcoholism as both cause and symptom and you have women who are overemotional, depressed and anxious and have alcholism as both a cause and symptom of these issues.
So what Tanin posted makes sense because when folks from those groups get sober, men would naturally gain relief in the form of no longer being involved in barfights, negative social enviornments and finally having some normal reciprocal friendships. Women would benefit more from having improved confidence, emotional stability, and resolution of depression....
Of course, while I am super butch and manly (laugh), it's no secret on here that I deviate from the norm in some ways. I was definitely at type 1 alcoholic who was a big depressed, anxious, overemotional sloppy crybaby. That is more commonly female but there I go busting the mold again I guess. Similarly, I would say I have benefitted from AA more from the ways that the article Tanin posted states women benefit.
Score again for Pinkchip the Girly Man!
P.S. - Only I am allowed to make fun of me and if other's do it, I will get into a month long tit for tat display of resentment filled banter (Thanks. Drive Thru).
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Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
I was pretty amazed that people actually seemed to like me better when I wasn't the babbling drunk at the party. I learned that I was much more social not drinking. Social drinking was a miserable failure for me.
Ha, I am still working this one through. 8 times out of 10 in my mind I am the life of the party. 2 times out of 10 I ruin the party.
From my studies and experiences and dual membership the study is right on and my shorter version (learned) is that women come from feelings and men from intuition. The counseling I've been involved in with women revealed that they were more available to changing how they dealt with trauma when the method increased the emotional crises while on the other hand the guys were always try to "think" their way into better drinking and very often disregarding entirely or diminishing the primary thought of "alcohol is a problem for me and I must find a way to quit". I rarely if ever dealt with "feelings" with the guys unless I initiated it which very often resulted in expressions of thought perception rather than emotion perception. I've done that!!
Pink you amaze/confuse me...and then maybe thats because we drank for different reasons? You're an okay guy by me.
Men are from mars, woman from venus was a great book in a lot of ways pertaining to this. Although I wouldn't agree with his suggestions on how to live life completely, it was great insight still. Hmmm, it's been years since I've read it, I should read it again with my new glasses and see how I perceive it now ; ) That's always fun!
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Thanks for everything. Peace and Love on your journey.
