Generating identity capital in addiction recovery through CRP-supported higher education: a collaborative ethnography

Background: Recovery identity is widely recognized as an important dimension of addiction recovery, yet it is often treated as an endpoint of identity transformation. Less is known about how identity development continues as individuals build lives beyond recovery identities. This study examined how collegiate recovery program (CRP)-supported higher education facilitates continued identity development among students in abstinence-based recovery.Methods: A collaborative ethnography explored the experiences of 30 students (15 men and 15 women) enrolled in an abstinence-based CRP at a large United States university. The mean age was 30 and data included semi-structured interviews, community observations, and collaborative member-checking meetings.Results: Five themes emerged: (1) damaged identity and imposter feelings; (2) positive academic behaviors and life skills; (3) academic achievement and an aspirational self; (4) social identity development and social elevation; and (5) the CRP as a supportive context for identity growth and integration. Findings demonstrate how CRP-supported higher education facilitated the accumulation and interaction of personal, social, and community recovery capital, supporting identities that extended beyond addiction and recovery contexts.Conclusions: Building on recovery capital theory and Côté’s conceptualization of identity capital, this study proposes identity capital as a framework for understanding continued transformation in recovery. Identity capital was generated through access to and interaction among personal, social, and community capital, and was reflected in a pluralistic and adaptive sense of self that incorporated recovery while expanding into academic, social, and future-oriented identities. CRP-supported higher education may therefore provide an important context for continued identity development and broader recovery growth.