Citation

Crawford JR, Thomson NA, Gullion FE, Garthwaite P. Int. J. Addict. 1989; 24(1): 71-77.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, U.K.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Marcel Dekker)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2759764

Abstract

It has been widely assumed that the disease concept of alcoholism is a powerful vehicle for the promotion of humanitarian attitudes to alcoholics. However, Crawford and Heather have argued that individual differences in attitudes to alcoholics are liable to be a reflection of broader attitudes to deviancy rather than a function of endorsement/rejection of a disease conception. This argument was subjected to empirical scrutiny by means of a questionnaire distributed to 200 members of the public. The questionnaire (1) measured attitudes to four deviant groups--alcoholics, drug addicts, compulsive gamblers, and juvenile delinquents--and (2) recorded whether respondents endorsed or rejected a disease conception of these deviant conditions. Attitudes to the non-alcoholic deviant groups were better predictors of humanitarian attitudes to alcoholics than was endorsement of a disease conception of alcoholism.

Language: en