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The current study examined the relationships between a personality metatrait (Stability consisting of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism), self-esteem, and stress in an adult population of individuals with substance use disorders living in recovery homes. Adults (N = 229) residing in 42 residential recovery settings were interviewed as part of the first wave of a longitudinal study in three sites. Standard error of the mean analysis found significant effects for several demographic variables on Stability, and Stability was significantly related both directly and indirectly to stress. These findings suggest that individual differences at entry may influence recovery home effects and may be important to developing more effective aftercare systems.

Recovery homes may facilitate individuals with substance use disorders re-integration back into community settings by providing friendship, resources, and advice. Participants of the current study were over 600 residents of 42 Oxford House recovery homes. Findings indicated that willingness to share resources in the form of loans was associated with higher levels of house involvement in recovery home chapters. Active involvement in house and community affairs may influence more recovery within homes or may be an indicator of houses with residents with more capacities and skills for positive long-term health outcomes. Such findings suggest that recovery is a dynamic process with multiple ecological layers embedding individuals, their immediate social networks, and the wider community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effects that substance-using family members have on those working to maintain recovery from substance use disorder. Participants (N = 229) were recruited from Oxford Houses (OH) across North Carolina, Texas, and Oregon. A stepwise linear regression with variables including abstinence self-efficacy, gender, substance use, attendance of Alcoholics Anonymous, and conflict with family and non-family was run to examine associations between the amount of substance using family members in the participant's social network. The abstinence self-efficacy mean score, gender, and days of serious conflict with non-family members were significantly associated with total number of substance-using family members in a participant's social network. These results may indicate that OH's serve as a buffer between substance using family members and one's abstinence self-efficacy. It remains unclear if individuals are at an increased risk of relapse from this familial influence when perceived abstinence self-efficacy drops. If so, OH residents could benefit from interventions that help them maintain their perceived abstinence self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring recovery home residents' social integration into a home environment is important for preventing early dropout and facilitating sustained recovery. Social capital theory may provide an explanation for how recovery homes may protect residents and improve recovery rates. However, little is known about how social capital in recovery home environments is structured and accessed. Recovery homes may increase social capital by sharing bonds through friendships, lending money, and advice‐seeking. The current study describes social network cross sectional data obtained from a study of 42 Oxford House recovery homes, in three locations in the US (North Carolina, Texas, and Oregon). The residents rated each member of their house on the dimensions of friendship, money loaning, and advice seeking to assess how each resident views one another on these dimensions. The research used baseline data from a larger longitudinal study, and although some data were presented for the full sample (APL, isolates, mean reciprocity and density), the results primarily focused on case studies for three of the participating Oxford Houses—with examples of low, median, and high "connected" houses respectively. Standard measures of network structures were calculated for each home. Although all Oxford Houses follow the same house rules, they were found to vary in network structure. Findings indicated a considerable range of interconnectedness among residents in these houses, with friendship being the most common relationship, willingness to lend money less common, and advice‐seeking the least common. The findings on friendship, willingness to lend, and advice‐seeking provide promising leads about what occurs among the social networks within these complex eco‐systems, and may provide ways to better understand and facilitate resident social integration into these settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxford Houses (OH) are democratically run, self-funded, substance-use recovery homes that operate across the United States and internationally. Previous research shows the OHs are present in diverse neighborhoods. The current study examined the neighborhoods of 42 OHs located in Oregon, Texas, and North Carolina to better quantify and understand house and neighborhood characteristics that are related to relapse rates. Independent variables were participants' length of stay in OH, wages earned from employment, and income/education neighborhood characteristics. Neighborhood characteristics were related to relapse rates, with higher relapse rates occurring in neighborhoods with lower income and education levels. This finding supports the OH organization's premise that while OHs may work across community settings, they perform better in neighborhoods with higher average income and education levels. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).