The impact of family systems and social networks on substance use initiation and recovery among women with substance use disorders.

OBJECTIVE: While social networks influence individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs), the mechanisms for such influence are under-explored among women who use drugs. This study triangulates the perspectives of criminal justice professionals, SUD treatment professionals, and women with past and current experiences with substance use to explore these dynamics. METHOD: We conducted semistructured interviews (N = 42) in 2022 with women with current or past opioid use disorder (n = 20), SUD treatment professionals (n = 12), and criminal justice professionals (n = 10) who work with women with opioid use disorder. Interviews centered around participants' backgrounds, perceived barriers and facilitators to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment, and gender-specific issues in MOUD treatment. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and deidentified. We used a four-step qualitative data analysis process to code transcripts. RESULTS: Across these participants' accounts, we identified mechanisms by which women's social networks influenced their opioid use trajectories: intergenerational substance use, family support and strain, intimate partner influence, and peer support and pressure. Overall, the emergent themes in the present study reflect the embedded nature of support within social systems. Women who had access to and engaged with various forms of social support tended to be those who use/used MOUD and self-identified as in recovery. CONCLUSIONS: Combining MOUD treatment with psychosocial interventions allows women to heal from trauma, learn effective coping skills, and receive valuable resources to support recovery. Interventions focusing on family resilience and peer recovery support can disrupt the cycle of addiction and promote MOUD treatment success. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Insights into stigma management communication theory: Considering stigmatization as interpersonal influence.

The theory of stigma management communication has helped identify and categorize the communication tactics people use to manage stigmatization, yet communication research has provided little insight into predictors of these tactics. To address this gap, we considered stigmatization through the lens of interpersonal influence: as an act in which stigmatizers attempt to persuade their targets to accept categorization and de-individualization into a social group and, further, to accept its marginalized status in the society at large. We used the obstacle hypothesis, a theory of resistance to interpersonal influence, to derive predictors of stigma management strategies. Participants (N=124) facing possible stigmatization due to their genetic risk for a chronic health condition completed an online survey and shared memories of their initial test disclosures. The empirical tests showed that having a stronger sense of meaning in life, more unsafe experiences, and a broader information network predicted resisting stigmatization. Guilt predicted greater use of avoidance strategies (e.g., secrecy and avoiding risky interpersonal settings). We discussed practical implications of bolstering one's sense of meaning in life and argumentation skills and their connections to resilience research.