"My previous post on substance use agreements-the limits or rules couples develop related to the use of drugs or alcohol-summarized recent findings suggesting that couples who discuss substance use concerns and successfully agree on shared limits are more successful at regulating use. These findings came from our recent paper (Starks & Cain, 2025) published in Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice."
"As a reminder, this study used data produced by 100 cisgender male participants who were members of 50 couples. (See my previous post for more details.) When a participant indicated that they had discussed substance use-related concerns with their partner or agreed on substance use limits, they were asked to describe these discussions and limits. Participants typed their responses into an open-ended field using their own words."
Data came from 100 cisgender male participants representing 50 couples. Nine couples (18% of the sample) reported that both partners had successfully negotiated a substance-use limit. Participants described discussions and limits in open-ended written responses. Agreements varied from global abstinence to substance-specific limits. Many couples specified restrictions on amount, timing, or motivation for substance use. Three defining features emerged: the spectrum from abstinence to substance-specific rules, inclusion of details about when and how much substances may be used, and the observation that greater specificity in goals appears to strengthen regulation of use.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]