Conversations about Recovery at and Away from a Drop-in Center among Members of a Collegiate Recovery Community

Abstract

As the population of young adults in recovery from substance abuse increases, colleges are developing collegiate recovery communities. The goal of these communities is to provide students in recovery the opportunity to receive social support for abstinence from other abstaining individuals. To examine how social support in such a recovery community context occurs, this study analyzed 1,304 end-of-day reports made by 55 abstaining college students, 39 males and 16 females (mean age = 22.6). Two “talking with others about recovery” outcomes were examined: recovery talks outside of the community drop-in center and recovery talks at the drop-in center. Preliminary analyses revealed that the majority of recovery talks at and outside the drop-in center varied more between days within participants than they did across participants. Primary results revealed that daily levels of cravings and negative mood predicted same-day variation in recovery talks occurring outside of the drop-in center. In contrast, recovery talks at the drop-in center were not associated with these predictors. By demonstrating that college students in recovery receive more conversational support for recovery though not at the community drop-in center and that this out-of-center support appears more responsive to members' needs, this study provides insight into how social support for abstinence can succeed within college recovery communities.