Measuring In-Group and Out-Group Helping in Communal Living: Helping and Substance Abuse Recovery

Abstract

With a national U.S. sample of communal-living residents in substance abuse recovery, the tendency to help members both inside and outside their community was examined. Study 1 (n = 670) developed the Communal Living In-Group Helping Scale to distinguish helping directed toward housemates vs. others. Study 2 (n = 419) used this communal helping measure and a general altruism scale to explore gender, ethnicity, and 12-step sponsorship related to in-group (housemates) and out-group (others in the community) behaviors. Results revealed significant sex differences, and significantly higher helping for both men and women was reported among 12-step sponsors along two dimensions. Implications focused on gender-related differences in social helping interactions and in-group formation in recovery communities.

KEYWORDS:

• helping
• in-group
• sex differences
• recovery
• 12-step sponsorship
• communal-living settings

Funding was made possible in part through National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grants #5F31DA16037 and # R01DA13231. Portions of this project come from the first author's masters thesis under the supervision of the second author and were presented at the 2004 annual meeting of the Midwest Psychological Association.