With approximately 600,000 American college students identifying as being in recovery from substance use disorders, collegiate recovery programs (CRPs) have emerged to provide essential support for this growing population. Despite the increasing recognition of these students’ needs, empirical literature on CRPs remains limited. While existing research has identified recovery capital and self-compassion as important factors influencing recovery outcomes, one area that has received insufficient attention is the role of language and stigma in collegiate recovery settings. The recovery community has historically employed non-affirming language such as ‘addict’ and ‘junkie’ when referring to individuals with substance use histories, potentially contributing to stigma and limiting recovery capital for students. However, little empirical literature examines how language preferences relate to recovery-relevant outcomes such as stigma, self-compassion, and recovery capital among collegiate recovery students. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between language preferences, stigma, recovery capital, and self-compassion among students participating in CRPs.
The study utilized a web-based survey to collect data from students participating in collegiate recovery programs (CRPs) across the United States from May through July 2022. Inclusion criteria required participants to be 18 years or older, identify as being in recovery from a substance use disorder, be enrolled in a U.S. college or university, and be part of a collegiate recovery community. The final sample consisted of 59 participants after removing those who did not complete any study measures (n = 25). The survey included sociodemographic questions (gender, race/ethnicity, age, time in recovery, recovery pathway) and four standardized measures: an 11-item comfort with language scale assessing comfort with non-affirming language terms, the Brief Assessment of Recovery Capital (BARC), the Self-Compassion Scale Short Form (SCS-SF), and the Substance Use Stigma Mechanism Scale (SU-SMS) measuring enacted, anticipated, and internalized stigma. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to characterize the sample, Pearson correlations to examine relationships between language preferences and recovery-related outcomes, and independent t-tests to assess group differences based on sociodemographic characteristics.
The study findings revealed a sample of 59 participants, predominantly female (69.2%), non-Hispanic white (71.2%), and LGBTQ+ (51.7%), with most identifying as collegiate recovery students (83.9%) and utilizing 12-step recovery approaches (52.6%). Participants reported moderate levels of comfort with non-affirming language and moderate to high levels of recovery capital and self-compassion, with enacted stigma being higher than anticipated or internalized stigma. Regarding language preferences, participants showed greater comfort with affirming terms like “person in recovery” (64.7% comfortable/very comfortable) compared to non-affirming terms like “addict/alcoholic” (38.9% comfortable when used by others). Correlation analyses revealed small negative correlations between recovery time and both anticipated (r = −0.34) and internalized stigma (r = −0.36), a small negative correlation between recovery capital and internalized stigma (r = −0.34), a small positive correlation between self-compassion and anticipated stigma (r = .29), moderate positive correlations between enacted and anticipated stigma (r = .40) and between self-compassion and internalized stigma (r = .50). Demographic comparisons showed that LGBTQ+ respondents reported higher anticipated stigma, BIPOC respondents had lower self-compassion, traditional-age students (18-24) showed lower internalized stigma and less comfort with non-affirming language, males reported higher recovery capital, and participants using 12-step approaches had higher recovery capital and lower anticipated and internalized stigma but also lower self-compassion compared to those not using 12-step approaches.
Takeaway: Students in collegiate recovery programs showed moderate self-compassion but persistent stigma, with comfort using non-affirming language linked to higher stigma levels, while longer recovery time and greater recovery capital reduced self-stigma, with notable demographic differences observed across various subgroups.