Strategies adopted by wives of addicts: A sociological study of women in rural Punjab, India

A partially exploratory and partially descriptive study was conducted to find out the strategies adopted by wives of addicts to grapple with the problem of addiction among their spouses. For this study, 100 wives of addicts were interviewed on pre-tested interview schedule. This study was conducted in a village of District Sangrur (State Punjab, India). The present study was conducted to facilitate better understanding of lives of wives of addicts. 89% of wives of addicts were actively attempting to de-addict their husband. 57% took their addict husbands to de-addiction center. 59% of wives of addicts reported to village panchayat while 15% reported to police about problems associated with addiction of their husbands. 37% reported to pressurize their husbands through their father or brother(s) by using coercion. 10% of wives of addicts employed psychological pressure like stop talking/communicating with their addict spouses. Only 4% resorted to divorce or live separated from their husbands permanently.   Key words: Wives of addict, coping strategies of wives, impact of addiction, addiction and family.