Reinforcement expectancies and alcoholism treatment outcome after a one-year follow-up.

The relationship of alcohol-related expectancies with the drinking behavior and treatment compliance of alcoholics was examined 1 year posttreatment, along with the utility of reinforcement expectancy as a predictor of alcoholism treatment outcome. Of the original sample of 42 men veteran inpatients from an alcoholism treatment program, 81% were interviewed 1 year after treatment. Prediction variables identified in the multiple-regression analyses accounted for 40-57% of the criterion variance. It was found that more limited expectancies of alcohol-produced relaxation were associated with abstinence, as well as nonproblematic drinking. It was also found that there was a consistent negative linear relationship between alcohol expectancies and measures of treatment success.