title: The relationship between wisdom and abstinence behaviors in women in recovery from substance abuse.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Wisdom is theorized to be an important construct in recovery from substance abuse. In order to explore the role of wisdom in substance abuse recovery behaviors, the present study had two goals. First, it sought to examine the factor structure of a wisdom scale, the Foundational Value Scale (FVS) in a community sample of women in recovery from substance abuse. Second, the study examined how wisdom predicted the women's beliefs about their ability to abstain from future substance use.
  
  
  METHODS
  116 women in recovery from substance abuse disorders were recruited from self-run recovery homes and a substance abuse recovery convention.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results from an exploratory factor analysis indicated that a modified version of the FVS has good internal consistency reliability and is composed of three wisdom-related dimensions. The three factors were then used to create a higher-order wisdom factor in a structural equation model (SEM) that was used to predict abstinence self-efficacy behaviors. Results from the SEM showed that the wisdom factor was predictive of greater abstinence self-efficacy behaviors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The FVS was found to be a reliable measure with women in recovery from substance abuse. In addition, wisdom predicted beliefs about self-efficacy such that those who reported higher levels of wisdom felt more confident in their abilities to abstain from alcohol.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study indicate that wisdom is an important construct in the abstinence behaviors of women who are in recovery from substance abuse disorders.
authors.affiliation: Center for Community Research, DePaul University, Chicago, IL 60614, USA. jdigangi@depaul.edu
authors.forename: Julia A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Digangi
authors.forename: Leonard A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Jason
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mendoza
authors.forename: Steve A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Contreras
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020377:Self Efficacy; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*