Purpose in life predicts treatment outcome among adult cocaine abusers in treatment.
A sense of purpose in life has been positively associated with mental health and well-being and has been negatively associated with alcohol use in correlational and longitudinal studies but has not been studied as a predictor of cocaine treatment outcome. This study examined pretreatment purpose in life as a predictor of response to a 30-day residential substance use treatment program among 154 participants with cocaine dependence. Purpose in life was unrelated to cocaine or alcohol use during the 6 months pretreatment. After controlling for age, baseline use, and depressive symptoms, purpose in life significantly (p < .01) predicted relapse to any use of cocaine and to alcohol and the number of days cocaine or alcohol was used in the 6 months after treatment. Findings suggest that increasing purpose in life may be an important aspect of treatment among cocaine-dependent patients.
Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. rosemarie_martin@brown.edu
Rosemarie A
RA
Martin
Selene
S
MacKinnon
Jennifer
J
Johnson
Damaris J
DJ
Rohsenow
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012008:Recurrence; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016896:Treatment Outcome