Abstract

The present study investigated whether participants with a high propensity for alcoholism demonstrate the same linguistic pattern previously established for depression in response to a personal essay. It was hypothesized that students with a higher propensity for alcoholism would display a similar linguistic style when compared to those with symptoms of depression; specifically students with a higher propensity for alcohol abuse or dependence would use more first person singular pronouns and less first person plural pronouns. They were also hypothesized to use more negative emotion words similar to those with symptoms of depression. Participants completed a writing exercise that was analyzed using the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count software (Pennebaker, Booth, & Francis, 2007). The data was analyzed using Pearson Bivariate Correlations. The participants completed a writing exercise, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, the Beck Depression Inventory, Marlowe-Crowne Short Form, and a short demographic survey, respectively. The correlation between s propensity for alcoholism and symptoms of depression was not significant and the linguistic patterns varied substantially from the hypotheses. Even though the hypotheses were not supported, there were significant correlations between propensity for alcoholism and linguistic choices. The potential for linguistic analysis to be developed into an indirect assessment of alcohol dependence is discussed as a way to minimize the difficulties surrounding self-report methods.

Notes

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Thesis Completion

2013

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Whitten, Shannon N.

Degree

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

College

College of Sciences

Degree Program

Psychology

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences;Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

Location

UCF Palm Bay

Format

PDF

Identifier

CFH0004375

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Document Type

Honors in the Major Thesis

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Included in

Psychology Commons

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