The study capitalizes on a large national sample of individuals who self-describe as “in recovery” from alcohol and/or drug problems recruited in the context of the What Is Recovery? (WIR) study. The only other inclusion criterion was to be 18 years or older. “Recovery” was not defined in WIR recruitment materials because the purpose of the WIR study was to develop a psychometrically sound recovery definition instrument that reflects the heterogeneity of experiences associated with different pathways to recovery (e.g., treatment, 12 step, pharmacotherapy, natural recovery, non-abstinent goals). To this end, extensive efforts were made to recruit a diverse group of individuals who consider themselves in recovery to take the 15-minute, confidential online WIR survey which included questions about specific facets of recovery. The WIR survey also asked about demographics, treatment/mutual aid history, substance use, and lifetime dependence. Participants were recruited from July 15, 2012 to October 31, 2012. The various recruitment methods included (but were not limited to) traditional newspaper ads, CraigsList, social media, and intensive outreach within treatment organizations and recovery organizations (Subbaraman et al. in press). Thus,
