Value Comparisons between Alcoholics, Nonalcoholics, and Therapists

Abstract

The values of clients, alcoholics and nonalcoholics (N = 118), were compared to the values of therapists (N = 45). Value comparisons were also made between alcoholics and non-alcoholics as well as between these subgroups and therapists. Distinctive value patterns emerged which were peculiar to therapists and to clients and differentiated them from each other. Value priorities of therapists were those which loaded on factors of self-expansion, competence, and other directedness, whereas the value priorities of clients were those which load on factors of self-constriction, religious morality, and inner-directedness. Few values were found to discriminate between the alcoholic and nonalcoholic. The alcoholic placed a higher value on “self-control,” “social recognition,” and “a sense of accomplishment” than the nonalcoholic. The results are discussed in the light of a deprivation hypothesis and the implication they have for therapeutic intervention with the alcoholic.