Self-esteem and self-reinforcement in men alcoholics.

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Abstract
The possibility that men alcoholics use rationalization to alter the meaning of personal attributes, and thus enhance self-esteem, was examined in 40 alcoholics and 26 nonalcoholics. The alcoholics, in outpatient treatment for alcoholism, were 25 men (mean age, 36) and 15 women (mean age, 46); the nonalcoholics were 11 men (mean age, 29) and 15 women (mean age, 35). Thirty-eight of the alcoholics and 25 of the controls were Whites; the remaining 3 subjects were Blacks. All the subjects rated 66 descriptive terms, obtained from the Adjective Check List and previously rated by a group of college students as favorable, unfavorable and neutral, as being more characteristic of self or peers. After 20 min, the subjects were asked to recall as many of these terms as possible and then to rate the 66 terms on a scale of social desirability. Self-esteem (measured by each subject''s average rating of the social desirability of the terms he reported to be self-characteristic) was lowest in men alcoholics and highest in women controls, with women alcoholics and men controls in intermediate positions (P < 0.01). Scores on the measure of rationalization (based on differences between the values that college students and subjects assigned to descriptive terms) and the measure of repression (based on the percentage of descriptors that subjects recalled minus the percentage of unfavorable descriptors the subjects reported to be self-characteristic) indicated that men alcoholics used rationalization significantly more often and repression significantly less often than did subjects in the other 3 groups. Men alcoholics, use rationalization as a defense mechanism against the effects of alcoholism on self-esteem and this distortion mediates effective self-reinforcement.

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