ARTICULATING SUBTYPE DIFFERENCES IN SELF AND RELATIONAL EXPERIENCE AMONG ALCOHOLIC MEN USING STRUCTURAL-ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL-BEHAVIOR

L. Benjamin's (1984) structural analysis of social behavior (SASB) sys tem was used as the organizing framework within which to characterize the phenomenology of self and other relationship experience among subt ypes of alcoholic men. Within the context of a community-based study o f psychopathology, groups of antisocial alcoholic (AAL), nonantisocial alcoholic (NAAL), and nonalcoholic (control) men completed ratings of their introject (self-concept) and spousal experience. Group differen ces in demography and psychopathology provided strong support for subt ype variations among alcoholic men that could not be attributed to glo bal differences in adaptive functioning. SASB data showed consistency in circumplex ordering across the groups in ratings of self-experience and in ratings of the spousal relationship. AAL men were the most sel f-neglecting, blaming, and least trusting, and control men were the mo st relationally connected, with NAAL men falling in between. Despite t he importance of the subtyping distinction, in some areas, alcoholism regardless of subtype, was the core differentiating factor.