Sequential interactions among episodic and steady alcoholics and their wives

Previous work by the authors has suggested that alcohol's impact on the marital functioning of alcoholics is influenced by the drinking pattern of the alcoholic. This article addresses whether alcohol differentially influences the sequential interactions of episodic and steady alcoholics and their wives. Log-linear analyses examined antecedent-consequence patterns for the 30 steady and 19 episodic alcoholics and their wives reported on by T. Jacob and K.E. Leonard (1988). These couples participated in marital interactions during a drink night and a no-drink night. The results suggested minimal differences between episodic and steady alcoholics or between no-drink and drink night. Wives of episodic alcoholics tended to decrease their negative reactions to husband problem solving on drink versus no-drink night. Wives of steady alcoholics tended to decrease their negative reactions to husband negativity on drink night.