Background: Recent research indicates that there are widespread differences between men and women's Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs) in alcohol dependent populations. This study examined this claim.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine differences between men and women's EMSs in an Australian clinical sample who had sought treatment specifically for alcohol dependence.
Methods: A total of 111 men and 114 women completed the Young Schema Questionnaire-Long Form (YSQ-L3) between 2012 and 2015 in order to assess them on 18 EMSs.
Results: Despite previous findings suggesting that women report higher levels across a number of EMSs, the strongest evidence pointed to women scoring significantly higher than men on the EMS of self-sacrifice (the tendency to excessively help others whilst continually sacrificing one's own needs). Smaller differences between men and women were noted for the subjugation and failure EMSs. Conclusions/Importance: With the exception regarding the finding that woman scored higher on the self-sacrifice EMS than men, the homogeneity of the remaining EMS scores across men and women found in this study support the use of inter-gender group Schema Therapy (ST) with alcohol-dependent adults in Australia.
Keywords: Early Maladaptive Schemas; alcohol dependence; gender.