The Role of Excessive Drinking in Alcoholism Complicated Marriages: A Study of Stability and Change over a One-Year Period

Study of covariation of changes in drinking habits and changes within a marriage is crucial for an understanding of the role of excessive drinking in alcoholism-complicated marriages. In this study, after a year during which excessive drinking had been drastically reduced by a proportion of husbands, drinking changes were associated with an increase in husband to wife affection, some increase in wife to husband affection and husband task involvement, but with no change in favorability of wife perception of husband. A high level of stability was evident, from beginning to end of the year, on all measures. Neither a personal condition model nor an interactional model of excessive drinking and marriage can account for the facts.