Sexual Compulsivity and 12-Step Peer and Sponsor Supportive Communication: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis

Abstract

Is it the supportive communication received through 12-step processes that enables addicts to change their behavior, or is it that addicts who are motivated to change their behavior diligently attend to 12-step processes? A retrospective two-wave panel design was employed to address these competing perspectives. Higher levels of meeting attendance and sponsor work at an earlier period in participants’ lives were associated with lower levels of sexual compulsivity at a later period in their lives. However, time-one meeting attendance and sponsor work did not explain interindividual change in sexual compulsivity from time-one to time-two, a stricter test of the validity of cross-lagged associations. Options for methodological improvements to increase the power of future inquiries are outlined.

Notes

1. Twelve-step groups are not the only avenue for sexual compulsivity social support. For instance, non-12 step online social support groups can be found in yahoo health groups and various faith-based organizations have also developed support groups for their members. Twelve-step social support is the focus of this article because 12-step groups have become an institution and are the source of support most often recommended by health professionals.

2. At present, there are no hard and fast distinctions made in the literature between the expressions “sexually compulsive” and “sexually addicted” and the terms are used interchangeably here.

3. It is acknowledged that there are a variety of ways to assess motivation to change (e.g., DiClemente's University of Rhode Island Change Assessment Scale [URICA]). From the perspective of Peele and other like-minded theorists, however, the only valid indicator of motivation to change is actual change: addicts who are motivated to change do change, those who are not motivated do not change. Consequently, the only way to test the alternative hypothesis for the success of 12-step groups espoused by 12-step critics is to operationalize motivation as the degree of behavioral compulsivity still manifested by the addict.