Alcoholism and the Nature of Outcome

Abstract

Summary A great deal of previous work has been directed to conceptual and methodological issues relating to descriptions of outcome’ in studies of career, natural history, and treatment of alcoholism. There is still no consensus even on basic measures of drinking behaviour which would allow comparison between reports, and the ‘dynamic’ of relationships between variables remains obscure. This paper uses data from a 10–12 year follow‐up of 68 interviewed male alcoholics to explore simple and partial correlations between outcome variables, relating both to the total follow‐up period and the 12 months prior to interview. In several instances significant correlations are found between outcomes in different domaines, but the levels of correlation which are reached suggest that outcome cannot be conceived as a simple unitary dimension, while the pattern of partial correlations begins to reveal the underlying dynamic of relationships. Outcome may need to be conceived not just in terms of end points or scores, but in terms of the processes in which the individual becomes caught up.