Codependency and an assessment of the Friel codependent inventory : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Social Sciences at Massey University

Abstract

To evaluate a measure of codependency (the Friel Codependent Assessment Inventory (Friel and Friel 1988)), 200 university students (38% male, 62% female) aged 18-40 years completed 4 questionnaires relating to their present and past partnerships with substance abusers; substance abuse in their family of origin; their own present substance use; and codependent traits. The results failed to support any of the 3 predictions: (1) that people who reported more symptoms of codependency would report higher scores on the codependent questionnaire than subjects reporting fewer; (2) that females would report more characteristics of codependency than would males; and (3) that the codependent questionnaire would show similar factors of codependency in students as obtained previously from alcohol and drug centre populations. This suggests that the codependent questionnaire is not a valid measure of codependency; that patterns of codependency are not the same for drug and student populations; and that the commonly reported predominance of women as codependents is not accurate.