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Self-Evaluation as a Mediating Variable between Substance Abuse and Stress

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Abstract

People who abuse substances in order to reduce distressing thoughts, uncomfortable physical sensations, and negative emotions, inadvertently increase these stress-related sensations. Deficits in emotion regulation skills, including self-evaluation skills, may have a role in determining this relationship. We examined the mediating role of self-evaluation in the relationship between substance abuse and stress. 57 adults who abused alcohol and other substances completed measures of self-evaluation, symptoms of stress, and severity of alcohol and substance abuse. We tested self-evaluation as a mediating variable in two models depicting the association between (1) severity of alcohol abuse and stress and (2) severity of other substance abuse and stress. Self-evaluation and severity of substance abuse (other than alcohol) accounted for 16% (F (2, 54) = 5.09, p < 0.01) of the variance in stress, and self-evaluation partially mediated the relationship between severity of substance abuse and symptoms of stress (unstandardized indirect effect =0.08). Self-evaluation was not correlated with severity of alcohol abuse. Substance abuse may be associated with deficits in self-evaluation skills, leading to poor regulation of stress.

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Contributors

All authors have contributed to the manuscript in a meaningful way.

As principal investigator, Ross D Connolly designed the study, facilitated data collection, conducted data analyses, and drafted the manuscript.

Dr. Noel contributed to the literature search, theoretical model development, figure design, and interpretation of the mediation model. Dr. Noel contributed to the writing of the introduction to summarize the literature search and the writing of the discussion to discuss the impact of the findings on the field.

Dr. Mezo provided oversight and consultation for method design, selection of measures, and implementation of data collection. Verified integrity of collected data. Reviewed final manuscript.

All authors have approved the final article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, A1B3X9, Canada

    Ross D. Connolly

  2. Centerra Business Park, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, 21 Lafayette St, Lebanon, NH, 03766, USA

    Valerie Noel

  3. Psychology Department, The University of Toledo, 2801 West Bancroft Street, Toledo, OH, 43606-3390, USA

    Peter G. Mezo

Authors
  1. Ross D. Connolly
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  2. Valerie Noel
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  3. Peter G. Mezo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ross D. Connolly.

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Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

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No funding.

Conflict of Interest

Ross D. Connolly declares that he has no conflict of interest. Valerie Noel declares that she has no conflict of interest. Peter G. Mezo declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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Connolly, R.D., Noel, V. & Mezo, P.G. Self-Evaluation as a Mediating Variable between Substance Abuse and Stress. Int J Ment Health Addiction 15, 1055–1063 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-017-9735-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-017-9735-1

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