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Lay Perceptions of Behavioral and Substance Addictions

Abstract Details

2015, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, Psychology/Clinical.
The purpose of this study was to assess the American lay public's willingness to affiliate with and their perceptions of the definition, etiology, and treatment of either one of two specific types of behavioral addiction (i.e., pornography or gambling) or one of three types of substance addiction (i.e., alcohol, marijuana, or heroin). Using the Amazon Mechanical Turk online subject pool, I recruited 612 participants who were randomly assigned to one of five experimental conditions listed above. Most participants were young (M=34.3, SD = 11.2), white (79%), college educated (72%), employed (70%), and had never married (57%). Participants were generally unwilling to affiliate with an individual with any of these five types of addiction. In addition, participants rated heroin as the most addictive, yet rated all five addictions as consisting of both Compulsive and Appetitive elements. Also, participants agreed that both psychosocial and biomedical factors were causes of each addiction, and generally rated treatment as beneficial for each of the five addictions. Results suggest that lay attitudes regarding etiology and treatment are consistent with many professionals'; opinion that all addictions are multi-determined and that all addictions are treatable.
Harold Rosenberg, Ph.D. (Advisor)
William O'Brien, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Casey Cromwell, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
78 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Lang, B. A. (2015). Lay Perceptions of Behavioral and Substance Addictions [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1447711322

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Lang, Brent. Lay Perceptions of Behavioral and Substance Addictions. 2015. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1447711322.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Lang, Brent. "Lay Perceptions of Behavioral and Substance Addictions." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1447711322

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)