SEQUENTIAL INTERACTIONS AMONG EPISODIC AND STEADY ALCOHOLICS AND THEIR WIVES

Previous work by the authors has suggested that alcohol's impact on th e marital functioning of alcoholics is influenced by the drinking patt ern of the alcoholic. This article addresses whether alcohol different ially influences the sequential interactions of episodic and steady al coholics and their wives. Log-linear analyses examined antecedent-cons equence patterns for the 30 steady and 19 episodic alcoholics and thei r wives reported on by T. Jacob and K. E. Leonard (1988). These couple s participated in marital interactions during a drink night and a no-d rink night. The results suggested minimal differences between episodic and steady alcoholics or between no-drink and drink night. Wives of e pisodic alcoholics tended to decrease their negative reactions to husb and problem solving on drink versus no-drink night. Wives of steady al coholics tended to decrease their negative reactions to husband negati vity on drink night.