The Influence of Purpose in Life on Alcohol Self-Regulation Failure Among Male Inpatients with Alcohol Use Disorder: the Mediation Effects of Self-Control and Abstinence Self-Efficacy

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine whether both self-control and alcohol abstinence self-efficacy mediate the relationship between purpose in life and alcohol self-regulation failure among male inpatients with alcohol use disorder (AUD). A total of 140 male patients with AUD were recruited from alcohol centers of four psychiatric hospitals in South Korea. All participants completed psychological assessments, including the Purpose in Life, the Alcohol Abstinence Self-Efficacy Scale, the Brief Self-Control Scale, and the Alcohol Self-Regulation Failure Scale. As hypothesized, the indirect effect analysis found that both self-control and abstinence self-efficacy may fully mediate the effects of purpose in life on alcohol self-regulation because the total effect was significant, but the direct effect was not significant. Moreover, bootstrap analysis found that the indirect effects were statistically significant. In conclusion, the effects of self-control and alcohol abstinence self-efficacy might not have different mediation effects on the relationship between purpose in life and alcohol self-regulation failure. These results suggest that both to enhance self-efficacy and self-control ability and to find purpose in life are important for AUD treatment.