Comparing functioning in alcohol and substance addictions and predictive effect of socioeconomic variables, substance preferance and addiction severity on functioning

The aim of the present research is (1) to determine the relationship between functioning and socioeconomic factors in individuals with alcohol and substance use disorders; (2) to determine the relationship between functioning and the type of substance used and lastly (3) to determine predictive variables between addiction severity and functioning. To achieve this, 109 individuals with alcohol/substance use disorders receiving inpatient treatment in a private psychiatric hospital were given World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0) to determine their level of functioning, Addiction Profile Index (API) Clinical Form to determine addiction features and lastly API clinical form and Demographic Information Form was used to determine socioeconomic status Hierarchical regression, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for analyzing the data. The results indicate a negative correlation between addiction severity and functioning. Sex, perceived family relationship quality and number of friends who use drugs were found to be related with functioning. Age, sex, marital status, having children, level of education, habitation status and profession were not found to predict functioning. However, number of friends who use alcohol and/or drugs and poor quality of perceived family relationship quality were found to explain the level of functioning. After including addiction severity in regression analysis, addiction severity alone was found to predict functioning. As a result of this research compared to socioeconomic factors, addiction severity is found to be a more crucial variable in explaining functioning. Furthermore no differences were found in functioning between different substance/alcohol user groups.