Journal o[ Studies on Alcohol, Vol. 37, No. 11, 1976

Alcoholics' Perception of Leisurd Carl Berg and JohnNeulinger SUMMARY.The attitudes of alcoholicsand a norm group toward leisure were

compared.The alcoholics differedfrom the norm consistently in seeingthemselves as having more leisurethan they wanted, in being more work-oriented,in preferring highly structuredfree time, and in viewing leisurenegatively.

EISURE, whether perceived as an experience or as atime of leastrestraints, isa perfectvehicle fortheexpression of personalitydemands."In our leisure,"wrote one observer,"we

standexposed" (1). Anotherstudyhaspronounced leisuretime"the architectof character"(2) notonlybecause it is increasingly taking over someof the functionsthat work used to fulfill, but also be-

causeduringleisurethe personhasto rely so muchon his inner resources (3). If there are personality differences betweenalcoholicsand nonalcoholics, they are boundto be reflectedin the respective group's attitudestowardandperception of leisure.If alcoholismis viewedas a psychiatric problem,this predictiongains evenmoresupportthroughthe conceptof "Sundayneurosis" (4), describing thefactthatsomepersons experience anincrease of neurotic symptomatology on their day off. A searchof the literature for studiesestablishing a link betweenalcoholismand leisureattitudes,however,indicatedthat this areahasnot beensystematically explored? • From The City College of The City Universityof New York, New York, NY

10031.

ACI•NOWLEVC;MENT.--Parts Of this study representwork completedin fulfillment of an honorsthesisrequirement by the first authorunderthe directionof the second author.Appreciationis expressed to the City CollegeComputerCenter for use of their facility for data analyses.We also acknowledgeand are grateful for the cooperationof the Staff of the ARU of the hospitalinvolvedin this study,particularly Drs. Herman R. Weiss, David Cohen and Peter Heitbrink. Requests for reprints

shouldbe sent to Carl Berg, The Psychological Center, The City College of New York, New York, NY 10031. Received for publication: 25 September1975. Revision: 14 May 1976.

• This searchincluded a survey of the PsychologicalAbstracts,1960 through 1970, a demand searchcarried out by the New York and Northern New Jersey Regional Library, under the heading "Alcoholismand Leisure or Recreation,"and bibliography("Occupationaland RecreationalTherapy") compiledfrom the Classified Abstract Archive of the Alcohol Literature (April 1972) by the Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies.

1625

1626

c. BEBCAND3' NEULINGEB

Theimportance of helpingtheindividual livemeaningfully dur-

inghisnonworking hours hasbeenrecognized asa criticalaspect of rehabilitation programs for peoplewith emotionally baseddisorders suchasalcoholism. Forexample, Hartlage(5) reports some success in an attemptto providetreatedalcoholics with a list of personality-matched avocational activities. Sessoms andOakley(6), recognizingthat "no significantwork has been addressedto the recreationpatternsof the alcoholicor, for that matter, to the recreation interestof any diagnostic group,"conducted a 5-month study of the recreationand leisureinterestsof alcoholicsadmitted to an alcoholism rehabilitation centerin NorthCarolina.Theyfound differences in the leisurebehaviorof alcoholics, but they did not

consider their findingsas clearlyshowinga separate"alcoholic" leisureprofile.However,they wereworkingwith leisurebehavior rather than attitudes.

The presentstudyexamines leisureattitudesof alcoholics. No specifichypotheses are postulated otherthan that alcoholics will perceiveleisuremorenegativelythan will nonalcoholics, sinceleisureas a periodof leastrestraintwill representa threat to the alcoholics and make them feel uncomfortable.

METHOD

Subjects

Three groupsof men were studied:two groupsof patientsfrom an alcoholismrehabilitation unit of a Veterans AdministrationHospital (groupsA-1 and A-2) and a groupof full-timeworkingadultsselected

from a previousstudy(the normgroup).The alcoholics were primarily middle-classwith relatively soundwork histories.

A-1 and A-2. All patientshad voluntarilyadmittedthemselves to the hospitalfor a 6-weektreatmentprogramand were screenedby a psychologist, nurseand socialworkerprior to their admission into the unit. The followingwere excluded:patients (a) showingevidenceof severe irreversiblebrain damage,(b) with severepsychosis not related to alcoholism,(c) with severementalretardation,(d) with physical conditions requiringintensivemedicalcare, (e) with severesocialdisruptionaccordingto preestablished criteria,and (f) with "Skid Row" organicand psychiatric symptomatology (who were referredto otherrehabilitation centersin the area). Patientsincluded in the study had to obtain acceptableratings on

the followingvariables:(a) socialintegrationand functioning,(b) family relationships, (c) socialadaptation,(d) marital statusand marital relationships, (e) educational and vocationalachievement level, (f)

•'•C•T•ON

OF L•S•m•

1627

age and its relationshipto duration of alcoholism,(g) stage of alcoholismbaseduponthe ]ellinekstages. Data were collected from 84 A-1 men from November

1971 to No-

vember 1972, and from 99 A-2 patients from December 1972 to December1973.Treatmentand data collectionproceduresfor the 2 groups were identical,and thus the studydesignreplicatesall measures.Backgroundinformationon A-l, A-2 and the norm group are presentedin Table

1.

The Norm Group. Avafiabledata from a previousstudy (7) of 335 full-timeworkingadultswere usedto form a norm groupof 80 subiects by matchingthem on the following variables:sex, religion, race and countryof birth. Sincethe alcoholicgroups'data were collectedwithin 48 hours after their institutionalization,the fact that the norm group was not an institutionalized

one was not considered critical.

Questionnaire

The questionnaire usedwasA Studyof Leisure(7, 8, 9) whichyields five dimensionsof attitudes toward leisure, a ranking of nine press variables(10), semanticdifferentialprofilesof the conceptsof leisure and work, and backgroundinformation(8). The five leisure attitudes

may be describedas follows:(1) Affinity for leisureaddresses itself to the person'sliking of leisureas well as his perceivedcapacityfor it; it also involvesthe person'sguilt feelings about leisure. (2) Society'srole in leisure planning seemsto measurea person'sattitude TA•.E 1.-BackgroundVariables,in Per Cent C-ROUPS

GROUPS •1-2

(N -- 84)

(N--99)

(N=80)

39 49

30 64

Religion

Protestant Catholic

30 64

•1-I

Norm

(N'--84)

•1-2

(N'--99)

Norm

(N'--80)

Public service

10

7

14

Clerical Tradesmen

12 35

19 37

11 17

Jewish

I

3

1

Other

17

3

2

Other

4

8

5

No response

20

23

8

No response

1

1

0

10

16

26

69 28 2

65 31 3

76 21 3

Married 52 Separated, divorced 37 No response 1

43 40 1

70 4 0

1

1

0

Race

White Black Other No response

Marital

Status

Single

Country oI Birth

Educational

Level

52

34

13

92

94

93

12

23

42

21

13-15

21

13

31

18-29

12

14

44

>15

4

11

35

52 16

41 13

18 22

U.S.

,•ge

0-11 years

30-39

26

19

27

40-49

36

44

17

FamilyIncome

50-65

26

23

12

$0-9000 $9001-11,000

$11,001-13,000

14

11

11

Professional

2

2

19

$13,001-l-

14

26

44

Business

4

9

29

No response

4

9

5

Occupation

16•8

c. BERG AND•'. NEULINGER

toward society'scontrol,regulation,supportof, or interferencewith, one'sfree time. (3) Self-definition throughleisureor work relatesto the relativeimportance of leisureandworkin a person's life and,more particularly,the degreeto which he defineshimselfthroughhis leisure or his work. (4) Amountof perceivedleisurenot only indicates the amountof a person'sperceivedleisure,but also his satisfaction with the amounthe has or his need for more.(5) Amounto[ work versusvacationdesiredreflectsa person'sbelief as to how much of his life shouldbe spentat work as opposed to vacation;it relatesto the person'swork ethics.

The meanscores reportedare weightedz scores andhigh (positive) scores imply,respectively, greateraffinityfor leisure,favoringsociety's role in leisureplanning,identifyingthroughleisureratherthan work, havingtoo muchleisure,and beingwork- rather than leisure-oriented. Procedure

Data collectionwas integratedinto an ongoingevaluationprogram of the hospitalalcoholism rehabilitationunit. The questionnaires were administeredto the patientswithin 48 hoursof their admissionto the program.They were not undergoing detoxication at the time of testing nor were they experiencingthe symptomsof withdrawal.They were guaranteedcompleteconfidentialityand anonymity. •RESULTS

Bothgroupsof alcoholics differedfromthe normgroupin dimensions 3, 4 and5 (Table2): alcoholics perceived themselves as identifyingmore with work than with leisure,as having more leisure,and as being more desirousof work.

To investigate thepossibility that the attitudinaldifferences may be a functionof age,incomeor educationallevel,two-wayanalyses TABLE 2.--Mean

Leisure

Dimension

Scores

GHouPs

A-1

A-2

Norm

F

1. Affinity for leisure 2. Society'srole in leisure planning 3. Self-definitionthrough

--.11

--.19

--.07

1.36

.05

.05

--.01

0.56

leisure or work

--.21

--.07

4.19'

--.23

4. Amount of perceived leisure 5.

.35

.38

.04

24.74;]:

.29

.28

.14

8.18:t:

Amount of work or

vacation desired ' P < .oõ.

• P < .ool.

l•.Rc•m•os

o•, •sum•

169.9

of variancewere carriedout for thosesubiectson whom the re-

spective datawereavailable(Table1). Groupeffects(i.e.,leisureattitudedifferences betweenthe alcoholics and the normgroup) remainedsignificant (p (.001) for dimensions 4 and5 whencontrolling for age. There were no significahtage effectsfor these dimensions. Dimension

5 showed a moderate

interaction

effect

(p (.05), suggesting that the differences betweenalcoholics and the normgroupheldup in the threeyoungeragegroups, but not in thoseaged 50 or above.Leisure-attitudedifferencesin dimension3 were shownto be a functionof age (F -- 2.97, 3/277 dr, p (.05) and an interaction betweenage and groups(F -- 1.93,

6/227 dr, p (.10), ratherthana groupmaineffect. Controllingfor age in dimension2 revealeda trend toward a

greateremphasis by the alcoholics on favoringsociety's regulation of leisurethanby the normgroup,with meansrespectively of .05, .05andm.13 (F -- 2.59,2/227 dr, p (.10). Neitheragenor interactioneffectswere significant. Controllingfor incomeand educationshowedthat the over-all

meandifferences betweenthe alcoholics and the normgroupwere consistently maintained whenthe groupsweredividedinto either of the four levels of income or education as shown in Table 1

(Figure1). Respective two-way analyses of variance confirm what isapparent fromtheFigure.Groupdifferences in dimension 4 were

significant at p ( .001,andtherewerenosignificant income, educationor interaction effects. Groupdifferences in dimension 5 were significant at p ( .001whencontrolling forincome, andat p ( .01 whencontrolling for education. In addition,therewasa moderate

(p (.05) income andeducation maineffect;that is, the higher subiects areon income andeducation, thelowertheytendto be on dimension 5. The dip in dimension 5 for incomegroupIII is reflectedin a moderately significant interaction effect (p (.05).

An analysis of thepressvariables reveals a strikingdifference betweenthe alcoholics and the normgroupin their desirefor a

free-timeactivityemphasizing order(Table3). The alcoholics rankedorderfirstor second, whilethe normgrouprankedit last

(F -- 11.13,2/225dr,p < .001). A controlled two-way analysis of variance revealed thatthisdifferedace wasnota function of age. Alcoholics alsoplaceda loweremphasis on sexin theirfree-time activities thandidthenormgroup(F -- 5.28,2/225dr,p < .01).

Acomparison oftheperceptions oftheconcepts leisure andwork

by thealcoholics andthenormgroupshowed thatthe alcoholics

1630

C. BEHGAND •. NEULINGEH +50

+.50

.4O

.4O

.3O

.3O

'•' .20

• --

o

--

-•20

• --.2o -*3,0

-,4O

I

-.50 I

(LOW)

t

I

11-

'm'

FAMILY INCOME

I

I

-.50 i

(LOW)

(HIGH)

I

I

31'

'm'

EOU CAT I ON

I •

(HIGH)

+.50

+.50 .40

AO

.3O

.30

• .•o

•'

.20

z_oJO

.•o

z

o

•ß --

o

--

--KEY

-.3,O

-*3,0

-AO -.50

I 1-

(LOW)

I 'n'

I l•r

FAMILY INCOME

I

-,50

c

3

•

•

ARU

c

•

ARU •

I

NORM 1-

I

•

(HIGH)

I

I *r•

(LOW)

EOUCATION

(HIGH)

F[CU•E 1.-Mean Scoreson Leisure Dimensions4 and 5 for A-l, A-2 and the Norm Group, by Family Income Level and Education

differedfromthe normgroupon only I of the 16 adiectives for the workconcept: theyperceived workas lessactive(p (.01). They differed,however,fromthe normgroupon 9 adiectives for the leisureconcept:theyperceived leisureaslessactive,full and desirable (p (.001), lessinteresting, pleasant andnecessary (p ( .01) andlessmeaningful, valuableandgood(p (.05). It mayalso be noteworthy that the normgrouphada morehomogeneous perception of theleisureconcept thandidthe alcoholics, asshown by the fact that 15 of the 16 standard deviations of A-1 and all of

the 16 standarddeviationsof A-2 are larger than the respective normgroupstandarddeviations.

P•_a•c•rxos

oF Lv.xSV•

1631

TA•L•. 3.-Mean Ranks of Press Variables GRou•,s

A-1

A-2

Norm

(iv = 6s).

(iv = so).

(iv = so)

F

Order

4.3

4.1

6.0

Affiliation Achievement

4.5 4.7

3.7 4.4

4.6 4.5

11.13:!: 4.22' 0.30

Understanding Activity

4.7 5.1

4.9 5.2

5.0 5.0

0.25 0.10

Nurturance

5.1

5.0

5.3

0.43

Sex Autonomy

5.2 5.3

6.0 6.1

4.7 4.9

5.28•' 3.58*

Sentience

6.0

5.5

5.1

2.90

a A number of subjects had to be dropped from this analysis because of incomplete questionnaires. ß P < .05. '• P < .01.

DISCUSSION

Themain purpose ofthisstudy wastoseewhether alcoholics differ from nonalcoholicsin their attitudes toward leisure. Attitude,

here,includes the perception of, the feelingtowardandpotential actionin regardto leisure.The findingsclearlyindicatesuchdifferencesin all three respectsand, furthermore,supportcertain

theoretical predictions in regardto alcoholics. Perhapsthe most strikingfindingis the alcoholics' negativeperceptionof leisure, seeingit as emptyand passive. This is very muchin line with Sessoms and Oakl.ey's(6) conclusions that "passivitybest describes the alcoholic's approach to recreation andleisurebehavior." The alcoholics perceived leisureaslesspleasant thandid the norm group,andat aboutthe samelevelas the normgroupperceived work.Thisnegativeperception of leisureand the greateraffinity toward work also is evident from the differences in the dimension

of leisureattitude.Again,thisagreeswith theoretical expectations and Sessoms and Oaldey's(6) statementthat "the alcoholicseems to havea compulsion to work."The suggestion that an alcoholic's behavior hasa strongcompulsive component is furthersupported by his choosing as his mostpreferredfree-timeactivityonethat stresses the need for order and neatness,characteristics that tra-

ditionallyhavebeenassociated with compulsiveness. Two additional pointsarenecessary: The findingsreportedrep-

resenta replication study.The two groups of alcoholics areindependent of eachother,andthesimilarity of theirleisureattitudes suggests that thisis not a chancefinding.Thisis demonstrated in

1632

c. BERG AND]'. NEULINGER

Figure1, wherethedifferences between the groups of alcoholics remain relatively small evenafterdividing thetotalgroups intoeight respective subgroups. The secondpoint is relevantalsoto the studyof personality phenomena in general:differences between subgroups or relationships betweenpersonality variables become evident when studied in relation to leisure rather than work. This

is a consistent finding(11) and supports the beliefthat leisure indeedis"theidealplaceto investigate personality dynamics" (8).3

Oneimplication oftheresults forcounseling iscompelling, namely, the alcoholics' needœorstructure. It is asif theywereactually

askingto havetheirleisure,andperhaps theirwholelives,controlledandregulated. Thisphenomenon is, of course, well recognizedandlikelyto applyto all typesof addiction. However,it may warrantfurtheremphasis. Finally, a word oœcaution. The fact that differencesin leisure attitudes between alcoholics and nonalcoholics have been found

doesnot necessarily imply that thesedifferentattitudesbrought aboutthe alcoholism. They may well be the consequence of it, or there may be an interactionbetween the two. In either case, it seemsimportantto be awareof suchdifferences and to take them into accountin any attempt at treatmentor rehabilitation. REFERENCES

1. K,•PL,•N,M. Leisurein America;a socialinquiry.New York; Wiley; 1960. 2. BOC,•RDUS, E. S. Avocationsand personality.Sociol.soc, Res. 18: 275-281, 1934.

3. DUMAZI•DIER, J. Sociology of leisure.Amsterdam; Elsevier;1974. 4. F•,P, ENCZI,S. Sundayneurosis.In: FER•,NCZI,S. Further contributionsto the theoryandtechniqueof psycho-analysis. 2d ed. New York;BasicBooks;1950. 5. HARTL,•C% L. C. Rehabilitation for total living. Amer. Arch. rehabilitat.Ther. 17: 25-28, 1969.

6. S•,SSOMS, D. H. and O,•KL•,V,S. R. Recreation,leisure and the alcoholic.J. leisureRes. 1: 21-31, 1969. 7. N•,ULI•C•,R,J. and B•,IT, M. Attitude dimensions of leisure;a replication study.J. leisureRes.3: 108-115, 1971. 8. N•,uLn•c•,•,J. The psychology of leisure.S•)ringfield,IL; Thomas;1974. 9. N•,ULINC•,•,J. and BREI%M. Attitude dimensionsof leisure.J. leisure Res. 1: 255-261, 1969.

10. MURRAY, H. A., BARRETT, W. G. and HOMBURGER, E. Explorations in personality. New York;OxfordUniversityPress;1938. 11. N•.VLING•.•,J. Leisureand mental health; a studyin a programof leisure research.Pacif. sociol.Rev. 14: 288-300, 1971. 12. NEULINGER, J. and RAPS,C. S. Leisureattitudesof an intellectualblite. J. leisure Res. 4: 196-207, 1972.

8Also N•,ULn•GER, J., LIGHT,S. and MOBLEY,T. Attitude dimensions of leisure andparticipation programs. Unpublishedmanuscript; 1974.