The Success of Alcoholics Anonymous: Locus of Control and God's General Revelation

Abstract

The success of the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) program for non-Christian members is a source of cognitive dissonance for Christians. Where does the power to change come from for these individuals, since AA does not emphasize a personal relationship with Christ? This article proposes that the research data demonstrates that it is the alcoholic's change from an internal to an external locus of control (LOC) regarding his/her drinking behaviors which accounts for the success of the AA program. A dual LOC theory, one LOC for drinking behaviors and one LOC for life events in general, is proposed to explain some of the conflicting data in the research Additionally, some issues for integration and future research are presented.