| Abstract: | The following hypotheses, derived from an interpersonal-interactional theory of alcoholism were investigated: (1) The alcoholic uses a style of communication characterized by responsibility avoidance, when interacting with his wife; (2) The wife of the alcoholic uses a more direct, responsibility-accepting style of communication than her husband, when interacting with him; (3) The interaction between an alcoholic and his wife is marked by (a) an inability to function as a unit for mutual benefit, and (b) rigidity of complementarity and/or escalation of symmetry. These hypotheses were tested by placing twenty married couples with alcoholic husbands and twenty normal control couples in an interactional game-playing situation. Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3a were confirmed. It was found that alcoholic couples use the escalation of symmetry pattern (hypothesis 3b). Additional findings on competition, dominance, and interactional rigidity are discussed. |
