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Social Identities as Pathways into and out of Addiction

Overview of attention for article published in Frontiers in Psychology, November 2015
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (96th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (93rd percentile)

Mentioned by

news
6 news outlets
twitter
10 X users
wikipedia
4 Wikipedia pages

Citations

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168 Dimensions

Readers on

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229 Mendeley
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Title
Social Identities as Pathways into and out of Addiction
Published in
Frontiers in Psychology, November 2015
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01795
Pubmed ID
Authors

Genevieve A. Dingle, Tegan Cruwys, Daniel Frings

Abstract

There exists a predominant identity loss and "redemption" narrative in the addiction literature describing how individuals move from a "substance user" identity to a "recovery" identity. However, other identity related pathways influencing onset, treatment seeking and recovery may exist, and the process through which social identities unrelated to substance use change over time is not well understood. This study was designed to provide a richer understanding of such social identities processes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 adults residing in a drug and alcohol therapeutic community (TC) and thematic analysis revealed two distinct identity-related pathways leading into and out of addiction. Some individuals experienced a loss of valued identities during addiction onset that were later renewed during recovery (consistent with the existing redemption narrative). However, a distinct identity gain pathway emerged for socially isolated individuals, who described the onset of their addiction in terms of a new valued social identity. Almost all participants described their TC experience in terms of belonging to a recovery community. Participants on the identity loss pathway aimed to renew their pre-addiction identities after treatment while those on the identity gain pathway aimed to build aspirational new identities involving study, work, or family roles. These findings help to explain how social factors are implicated in the course of addiction, and may act as either motivations for or barriers to recovery. The qualitative analysis yielded a testable model for future research in other samples and settings.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 10 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 229 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 229 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 35 15%
Student > Master 34 15%
Student > Bachelor 34 15%
Researcher 22 10%
Student > Doctoral Student 13 6%
Other 35 15%
Unknown 56 24%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 77 34%
Social Sciences 32 14%
Medicine and Dentistry 11 5%
Nursing and Health Professions 9 4%
Business, Management and Accounting 4 2%
Other 29 13%
Unknown 67 29%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 55. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 03 September 2023.
All research outputs
#763,618
of 25,394,764 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Psychology
#1,570
of 34,429 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#12,724
of 395,563 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Psychology
#30
of 459 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,394,764 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 34,429 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.3. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 395,563 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 459 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its contemporaries.