Sober-Living Houses and Changes in the Personal Networks of Individuals in Recovery

Social networks are an important source of support for many people in recovery from alcohol abuse. The present study investigated the role of one particular source of support for recovery in changing the personal networks of people in recovery, sober-living houses. In a randomized, longitudinal design changes in the network size, heterogeneity, and composition of usual aftercare and sober-living home residents were examined. Beneficial changes were found, such as increases in the number of recovering alcoholics and overall network size among sober-living home residents, particularly those who stayed six months or longer. Networks also became more homogeneous with respect to non-drinking among residents. The importance of changes in networks is discussed as well as the need for network-level analyses of personal recovery networks.