Gender Identity Conflict: A Contributor to Subsctance Abuse in Women
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Authors
Dakin, Cary E.
Issue Date
1993
Type
Thesis
Language
en
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
This qualitative study examined the correlation between gender identity conflict and substance abuse in women. Six women who had been sober for at least a year were interviewed three times. The unstructured interviews explored the women's lives before and after the period of substance abuse. Self-concept was discussed in relation to how women experienced and perceived the role of females in society. The women's responses were negative toward traditional feminine identity and led to self-destructive behaviors, which were manifested in substance abuse. The participants either abused drugs and alcohol to escape or to accept the expectations and traditional feminine identity being imposed on them. In addition, this study also examined the effects of substance abuse on the emotional development of females. The participants felt that while they were abusing substances, their emotional development was arrested. Therefore, when the women discontinued using drugs and alcohol, they found they were emotionally at the age when they began to use substances. Early sobriety was generally described by the participants as a time for re-experiencing their adolescence and developing coping skills they were unable to develop as adolescents because their energy was invested in survival.