Moral judgment of alcohol addicts

Abstract

Introduction Alcoholism could represent an important factor of crime and different forms of abuse of family members (physical and emotional) exist in many alcohol-addict cases, as well as characteristics of immoral behaviour. Objective The objective of our study was to determine the predominating forms in moral judgment of alcohol addicts, and to examine whether there was any statistically significant difference in moral judgment between alcohol addicted persons and non-alcoholics from general population. Methods The sample consisted of 62 subjects, divided into a study (alcoholics) and a control group (non-alcoholics from general population). The following instruments were used: social-demographic data, AUDIT, MMPI-201, cybernetic battery of IQ tests (KOG-3) and the TMR moral reasoning test. Results Mature forms of moral judgment prevailed in both group of subjects, alcohol addicted persons and non-alcoholics. Regarding mature forms of moral judgment (driven by emotions and cognitive) non-alcoholics from the general population had higher scores, but the difference was not statistically significant. Regarding socially adapted and egocentric orientation alcohol addicted persons had higher scores. However, only regarding intuitive-irrational orientation there was a statistically significant difference in the level of moral judgment (p<0.05) between alcoholics and non-alcoholics, in favour of the alcoholics. Conclusion Moral judgment is not a category differing alcohol addicted persons from those who are not. Nevertheless, the potential destructivity of alcoholism is reflected in lower scores regarding mature orientations in moral judgment.