Work and alcohol addiction among sports coaches within the context of psychopathy

Authors:

• Agnieszka Wojtowicz,
• Małgorzata Lipowska,
• Łukasz Żbik,
• Marlena Banasik

Abstract

Excessive involvement in work, or workaholism, is classi ed as obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is included in the group of anxiety disorders. It is indicated that workaholism is associated with forcing oneself to work, lack of control over work-related habits, which may lead to neglecting main life activities (Łuczak, 2009; Rowicka, 2015). Due to increasing tension, anxiety, depressed mood and di culties in interpersonal relationships, people who are excessively involved in their work are at an increased risk of becoming addicted to psychoactive substances. Thanks to stimulants, they are able to reduce increasing psychological discomfort in ashort time, but in the long run –they fall victim to addiction. Attention should be especially paid to the group of people who are described as highly functioning alcoholics, i.e. people who are generally perceived as resourceful, independent and organised.The aim of the study was to check whether the relationship between alcohol abuse and workaholism in sports coaches is modified by their level of psychopathic traits. In thestudy, 96 individual and team sports coaches (Mage = 31.85±10.56) with experience from 1 to 42 years (Mexp = 8.66±8.51) were examined. The Audit (alcoholism), TriPM (psychopathy) andWorkBAT (workaholism) tests were used. The conducted moderation analyses showed that the relationship between alcohol consumption and job satisfaction changes with the increase in the level of 2 features of psychopathy - boldness (Beta=-0.28; t=-2.69; p=0.009) and disinhibition (Beta=0.21; t=2.12; p=0.037). In coaches with ahigh level of disinhibition, along with the increase in work enjoyment, the use of alcohol increases, while in the case of people with ahigh level of boldness, the higher the level of work enjoyment, the lower the con-sumption of alcohol. It was also found that with the increase in boldness, the relationship between alcohol use and excessive involvement in work changes (Beta=-0.28; t=-2.58; p=0.012). For people with ahigh level of boldness, the more they are involved in work and the less they are prone to alcoholism.Among the studied sportscoaches, psychopathic traits constituted amoderator of the relationship between alco-hol abuse and workaholism. A high level of boldness can be aprotective factor against the risk of heavy drinking, while ahigh level of disinhibition increases this risk, especially among those whose workaholism is associated with high work enjoyment.