Coping with stressful events: influence of parental alcoholism and race in a community sample of women.

Coping with stressful events: influence of parental alcoholism and race in a community sample of women. More stressful childhood home environments reported among familieswith alcoholic parents (Fergusson, Lynskey, & Horwood, 1996;Kelleher, Chaffin, Hollenberg, & Fischer, 1994; Menees & Segrin,2000) suggest less functional coping and weaker personal and socialresources in adult offspring. Alternatively, high stress can increaseresilience (Harter, 2000; Segrin & Menees, 1996). Although beingraised by alcoholic parents increases the risk of adverse adultoutcomes, impairment Impairment1. A reduction in a company's stated capital.2. The total capital that is less than the par value of the company's capital stock.Notes:1. This is usually reduced because of poorly estimated losses or gains.2. is not inevitable (Griffin, Amodeo, Fassler, Ellis,& Clay, 2005). Practitioners could benefit from knowing whetheroffspring of alcoholic parents cope differently so that they could avoidunderestimating or overestimating the effect of parental alcoholism alcoholism,disease characterized by impaired control over the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Alcoholism is a serious problem worldwide; in the United States the wide availability of alcoholic beverages makes alcohol the most accessible drug, and alcoholism is onclients. Among women with alcoholic parents, race differences in coping areunclear. Black women, less studied than white women, might cope moreeffectively because of greater support from kin and fictive fic��tive?adj.1. Of, relating to, or able to engage in imaginative invention.2. Of, relating to, or being fiction; fictional.3. Not genuine; sham. kin (Haleyet al., 1995), or less effectively because of lower socioeconomic status(Proctor A person appointed to manage the affairs of another or to represent another in a judgment.In English Law, the name formerly given to practitioners in ecclesiastical and admiralty & Dalaker, 2003) and their likely experiences of racism anddiscrimination. Alternatively, commonalities in the experience of livingwith alcoholic parents may reduce coping differences between black andwhite women. Understanding racial differences could help practitionersbetter focus mental health treatment and prevention approaches,targeting services to those in need. This article focuses on women raised in two-parent families toaddress gaps in the literature. Coping methods and coping loci loci[L.] plural of locus.lociPlural of locus, see there wereexamined as well as the influence of childhood stressors (for example,physical abuse) and resources (for example, adolescent social support)on current adulthood coping, and the influence of the childhood copingresources of self-esteem and social support on current adulthood coping. DEFINITIONS AND TYPES OF COPING Researchers and clinicians have long been interested in howpsychological factors such as coping moderate the relationship betweeneveryday stressors and emotional and physical illness (Somerfield &McCrea, 2000). More recently, interest has shifted to factorscontributing to resilience or resistance to illness in spite of highlevels of stress (Holahan & Moos, 1990). Coping may be a crucialprocess in stress resistance; for example, engaging in positive healthpractices can delay illness, and using social support and otherconstructive coping can reduce mental health symptoms after major lossesand trauma (Holahan & Moos, 1994; Moos, 2002; Perrott, Morris,Martin, & Romans, 1998; Somerfield & McCrea). Coping refers towhat a person actually thinks and does in a situation (Folkman &Lazarus, 1980), that is, the thoughts and actions people undertake ontheir own behalf as they attempt to avoid or lessen the impact of lifeproblems. Coping serves to change the situation, to manage the meaningof the situation to reduce the threat, or to keep the symptoms withinmanageable bounds; coping can help with discrete events or continuingproblems (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978). Approach and Avoidant Coping Approach coping reflects cognitive and behavioral efforts to masteror resolve life stressors; avoidant coping involves attempts to deny,minimize, or escape the stressful situation (Moos, 1992b). Approachcoping is considered to be superior to avoidant coping (Kobasa, Maddi,& Kahn, 1982; Moos & Billings, 1982) because it is associatedwith more self-confidence and less dysfunction (Moos, 2002). Moosrecently concluded that although some evidence suggests that bothapproach and avoidant coping may contribute to adaptation, approachcoping may lead to more positive psychosocial psychosocial/psy��cho��so��cial/ (si?ko-so��shul) pertaining to or involving both psychic and social aspects. psy��cho��so��cialadj.Involving aspects of both social and psychological behavior. outcomes. In psychodynamic PsychodynamicA therapy technique that assumes improper or unwanted behavior is caused by unconscious, internal conflicts and focuses on gaining insight into these motivations.Mentioned in: Group Therapy, Suicide theory, avoidance is widely seen as a costly coping method (Consedine,Magai, & Bonanno, 2002). Empirical studies Empirical studies in social sciences are when the research ends are based on evidence and not just theory. This is done to comply with the scientific method that asserts the objective discovery of knowledge based on verifiable facts of evidence. support this view:Greater family conflict was found among alcoholic patients and theirspouses who relied on avoidant coping, and their children had moreemotional problems (Moos, Finney, & Cronkite, 1990). However, Pearlin and Schooler (1978) demonstrated that avoidantcoping can be adaptive. They found that coping by "selectiveignoring" and focusing on the positive aspects of a situation waseffective in responding to economic stressors; in contrast, avoidantcoping was not effective in marital relationships and parenting as itincreased stress. Furthermore, emotional avoidance was found to bepsychologically adaptive in longitudinal studies longitudinal studies,n.pl the epidemiologic studies that record data from a respresentative sample at repeated intervals over an extended span of time rather than at a single or limited number over a short period. of 116 cardiac patients(Ginzburg, Solomon, & Bleich, 2002) and 42 recent widows andwidowers (Bonanno, Keltner, Holen, & Horowitz, 1995). Coping Resources Lazarus and Folkman (1984) and Cronkite and Moos (1984)distinguished between coping methods that characterize what people thinkand do and are related to handling difficult situations (for example,use of prayer) and coping resources that people have available fordealing with life problems. Such resources can be social, for example,social supports; or psychological, for example, self-esteem. Havingstrong coping resources can moderate the negative consequences of stressand lessen the influence of stress even if weaker coping responses areused (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978). COPING AMONG WOMEN WITH AND WITHOUT ALCOHOLIC PARENTS Studies on coping among individuals with alcoholic parents havebeen limited by the use of clinical samples (for example, Hart &McAleer, 1997; Scavnicky-Mylant, 1990), the lack of clear criteria forassessing parental alcoholism (for example, Hart & McAleer),participants' awareness of the research purpose (for example,Easley & Epstein, 1991; Gondolf & Ackerman, 1993), and failureto adjust for other parental conditions, family circumstances, orrespondent personality (Palmer, 1997). Kelly and Myers (1996) studied female undergraduate students withand without alcoholic parents and found no significant differences inthe coping methods used for problems with their parents. Examining amiddle-aged, middle-class, community sample of white women, Domenico andWindle (1993) found that women with alcoholic parents reported higherlevels of distress as parents, more avoidant coping, and inability tocontrol their children. However, group differences were often small. Coping Resources: Social Support and Self-esteem Studies have generally found no differences in social support byparental alcoholism (Kashubeck, 1994; Rodney, 1994; Rodney & Rodney,1996). Rodney found that black college students with and withoutalcoholic parents were generally similar, but those with alcoholicparents reported less informational and emotional support from theirmothers. Domenico and Windle (1993), in a community sample, found thatmiddle-aged white women with alcoholic parents reported lower perceivedsocial support, including both emotional support and material aid. Studies of the effects of parental alcoholism on self-esteem aremixed: Some reported a negative effect (Domenico & Windle, 1993; Fox& Gilbert 1994); others found none (Menees, 1997; Rodney &Rodney, 1996; Werner & Broida, 1991). For example, Menees, studyingundergraduate students, using several standardized scales, found norelationship between parental alcoholism and self-esteem and no strongevidence that coping methods or resources mediated that relationship. COPING METHODS AND COPING RESOURCES Black people when compared with white people have relied more onreligious coping religious coping,n means of dealing with stress (which may be a consequence of illness) that are religious. These include prayer, congregational support, pastoral care, and religious faith. methods, including prayer (Ell & Nishimoto, 1989;Steffen, Hinderliter, Blumenthal, & Sherwood, 2001) and churchattendance (Johnson, Thomas Johnson, Thomas,1732–1819, American political leader, b. Calvert co., Md. A lawyer, he served (1762–73) in the Maryland colonial assembly, where he became prominent in the fight against the Stamp Act (1765). , & Matre, 1990), which are approachmethods. The cognitive technique of restructuring, also an approachmethod, is used more by white people (Ell & Nishimoto). Social networks have been measured by number of contacts andsatisfaction with networks. Some studies have demonstrated strongersocial networks among black people (for example, Ball, Warheit,Vandiver, & Holzer, 1980; Smerglia, Deimling, & Barresi, 1988);others have shown that black people have smaller networks than whitepeople (for example, Wallsten, 2000). Additional studies have shownmixed results: Black people reported greater satisfaction with theirsocial support (Steffen et al., 2001) and greater closeness amongnetwork members (Keith, Kim,& Schafer, 2000), but smaller networks(Keith et al.; Steffen et al.). In a recent meta-analysis, Gray-Littleand Hafdahl (2000) found that black men and women had higher self-esteemscores than their white counterparts. THE PRESENT STUDY Because social work practitioners often work with women who havealcoholic parents, they could benefit from information about whetherthese women, as a group, cope similarly or more poorly when comparedwith women who have nonalcoholic parents. Given that adults withalcoholic parents have been shown to have more stressful childhood homeenvironments (Fergusson et al., 1996; Kelleher et al., 1994; Menees& Segrin, 2000), we might expect that parental alcoholism would berelated to less functional coping methods and weaker resources.Alternatively, the opposite could be true because the experience of highstress is sometimes related to resilience.We examined a community sampleof 290 women with and without alcoholic parents to determine how theycoped with stress. Specifically, we examined how growing up in atwo-parent family with one or more alcoholic parents affectswomens' coping methods. Racial differences in coping could haveimplications for case planning and intervention; thus, we wanted toexplore the influence of race to fill a gap in research on racialdifferences in coping. The sample included women oversampled for blackrace and alcoholic parents because women with alcoholic parents andblack women constitute a small proportion of the community population.We oversampled for both of these characteristics to ensure sufficientnumbers for statistical analysis. Finally, the study examined whethercoping in this adult female population was influenced by childhoodstressors in addition to parental alcoholism (for example, sexual abuse,physical abuse), as well as childhood resources (for example, socialsupport in adolescence), and adulthood resources (for example, currentsocial support). Thus, two primary questions were addressed: (1) Doescoping vary by parental alcoholism or race? and (2) How is coping inadulthood affected by childhood stressors and resources and by adulthoodresources? METHOD Participants and Procedures Participants were white women and black women 21 to 60 years old.They were required to have lived in the same household with their motherand father for at least 10 years from birth to age 18, to increasecomparability in family composition and ensure that women with alcoholicparents lived with their parents for a substantial period in childhood.Participants were recruited through newspaper advertisements, flyersposted in the metropolitan area, and community contacts in AfricanAmerican African AmericanMulticulture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.See Race. neighborhoods (Clay, Ellis, Amodeo, Fassler, & Griffin,2003). The study was described to participants as a "familystudy" to minimize the bias that could result if participants withalcoholic parents anticipated that their parents' drinking orthemselves as children of alcoholics was the focus of the study. Duringthe telephone screening, questions about parental drinking history wereinterspersed with general family background items. Because our goal wasto recruit equal numbers of black and white women with alcoholic parentsand black and white women with nonalcoholic parents, we enrolled womenregardless of race or parental alcoholism until we met our quota for oneof those categories; then we excluded women as appropriate. All participants were asked to identify a sibling sibling/sib��ling/ (sib��ling) any of two or more offspring of the same parents; a brother or sister. sib��lingn. close in age toparticipate as a collateral informant informantHistorian Medtalk A person who provides a medical history . Siblings siblingsnpl (formal) → fr��res et s?urs mpl (de m��mes parents)had to be at least 21and had to have lived in the same household with the respondent duringchildhood. Siblings completed a mailed questionnaire covering familybackground, including parental alcoholism and psychopathology psychopathology/psy��cho��pa��thol��o��gy/ (-pah-thol��ah-je)1. the branch of medicine dealing with the causes and processes of mental disorders.2. abnormal, maladaptive behavior or mental activity. . Siblingdata were used as a reliability check for respondent data, but were notrequired because some participants would have no siblings, siblings whowere too young, or siblings who had not lived with them in childhood.Our goal was a sibling participation rate or 50 percent; we achieved arate of 49 percent. The study was approved by the Boston University Boston University,at Boston, Mass.; coeducational; founded 1839, chartered 1869, first baccalaureate granted 1871. It is composed of 16 schools and colleges. Institutional Review Board. Measures We used a combination of standardized measures that have been usedon both community and patient populations, items designed for thisstudy, and a face-to-face interview of 15 to 45 minutes to elicitsensitive information about childhood experiences and to confirmparental alcoholism and psychiatric problems. Amodeo, Griffin, Fassler,and Clay, who have extensive interviewing experience, conducted allinterviews. Participants received $50 for completion of the study. Coping Methods and Coping Foci. To assess adult coping methods, weused the Coping Responses Inventory (CRI CRIconstant-rate infusion. ):Adult [Health and DailyLiving, 32-item version] Form B Manual, Moos, 1992a); validity andreliability for this instrument have been well-established (Moos,1992a). Responses were categorized cat��e��go��rize?tr.v. cat��e��go��rized, cat��e��go��riz��ing, cat��e��go��riz��esTo put into a category or categories; classify.cat as approach or avoidant. Approachincludes active cognitive coping and active behavioral coping. Activecognitive coping refers to the use of logical analysis, that is,attempts to understand and mentally prepare for a stressor and itsconsequence; and positive reappraisal, that is, attempts to restructurea problem in a positive way without denial. Active behavioral copingrefers to seeking guidance or support, that is, attempts to take actionto deal directly with the problem. Avoidant coping includes resignedacceptance, that is, attempts to react to the problem by accepting it;emotional discharge, that is, indirect attempts to reduce tension byexpressing feelings, such as displacing anger on others; and alternativerewards, that is, attempts to get involved in substitute activities suchas drinking or taking drugs. The 32 items can also be categorized as oneof five coping loci: logical analysis, information seeking Information seeking is the process or activity of attempting to obtain information in both human and technological contexts. Information seeking is related to, but yet different from, information retrieval (IR). , problemsolving problem solvingProcess involved in finding a solution to a problem. Many animals routinely solve problems of locomotion, food finding, and shelter through trial and error. , affective affective/af��fec��tive/ (ah-fek��tiv) pertaining to affect. af��fec��tiveadj.1. Concerned with or arousing feelings or emotions; emotional.2. regulation, and emotional discharge. The CRI issuitable for healthy adults and can be administered as a self-reportinventory Noun 1. self-report inventory - a personality inventory in which a person is asked which of a list of traits and characteristics describe her or him or to indicate which behaviors and hypothetical choices he or she would makeself-report personality inventory . Participants were instructed to name an important problem orlife stressor in the past year. Problems selected included births,deaths, serious illness, assault, trouble with neighbors or coworkers,losing or gaining a job, and trouble with extended family. Participantswere then instructed to indicate which of the 32 coping responses theyused in dealing with this event, on a four-point Likert scale Likert scaleA subjective scoring system that allows a person being surveyed to quantify likes and preferences on a 5-point scale, with 1 being the least important, relevant, interesting, most ho-hum, or other, and 5 being most excellent, yeehah important, etc . Responseoptions were no; yes, once or twice; yes, sometimes; and yes, fairlyoften. Parental Alcoholism. To assess parental alcoholism, we used theChildren of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST) (Jones, 1981), a 30-itemself-report screening tool widely used for assessing parental alcoholismamong different age groups. A cutoff score of six is recommended, as itcorresponds to a DSM-IV diagnosis of alcohol dependence with asensitivity of 78 percent and a specificity of 98 percent (Charland& Cote, 1998). Each item was asked for mothers and fathersseparately, with strong reliability in our sample (alpha = .97 and .96for fathers and mothers, respectively). Adulthood Stressors and Resources. Self-esteem was measured usingthe Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a 10-item self-report scale (Rosenberg,1972). Social support was measured using the brief, self-report SarasonSocial Support Questionnaire (Sarason, Sarason, Shearin, & Pierce,1987) that has been widely used in clinical and community settings andprovides scores for social support satisfaction from several sources.Both measures showed strong reliability in our sample (alphas = .87 and.93 for self-esteem and social support, respectively). To measurecurrent stress, we used the Negative Life Change Events Scale (Moos,Cronkite, Billings, & Finney, 1984). This scale has been widely usedon both community and patient populations, with good reliability andvalidity. Scores depend on how many of 15 events occurred over the past12 months; items include separation or divorce, deaths of close friendsor family, unemployment or job loss, and legal problems. We replaced twoof the original items (loss of something of sentimental value sentimental valueNounthe value of an article to a particular person because of the emotions it arouses andsubstantial decrease in income) with two others (medical condition, alsofrom Moos et al., 1984, and care for an aging parent). Childhood Stressors and Resources. We used the Family EnvironmentScale (FES) (Moos & Moos, 1981) to assess cohesion, expressiveness,conflict, and organization. All scales demonstrated strong reliabilityin our sample (alpha = .80, .72, .81, and .76 for cohesion,expressiveness, conflict, and organization, respectively). The TimelineFollow-back method was used in the interview. Originally developed toassist recall of drinking (Sobell & Sob ell, 1992), this techniqueuses a calendar to anchor the-respondent in time and has been expandedto include recall of other behaviors (compare Crosby, Stall, Paul,Barrett, & Midanik, 1996; Midanik, Hines, Barrett, Paul, Crosby& Stall, 1998). A timeline from birth to 21 was presented to therespondent for identification of key childhood events such as divorces,births, and deaths and a review of who lived in the household over time.To assess adolescent social support, a childhood coping resource, weasked participants to indicate whether any confidant was available toprovide emotional support during adolescence. To assess the stressors ofphysical and sexual abuse, parental violence, and psychiatric problems,we used questionnaire items and follow-up questions in the interview.Siblings, in their completion of questionnaires on childhood familyexperiences, indicated which family members, if any, had had theearlier-mentioned experiences. A psychiatric problem was defined as aformal psychiatric diagnosis, a psychiatric hospitalization hospitalization/hos��pi��tal��iza��tion/ (hos?pi-t'l-i-za��shun)1. the placing of a patient in a hospital for treatment.2. the term of confinement in a hospital. ormedication, or a suicide attempt suicide attempt, suicide bid n → intento de suicidiosuicide attempt, suicide bid n → tentative f de suicide during the respondent's childhood. DATA ANALYSIS Two-way analyses of variance were used to compare continuousvariables by race and parental alcoholism, and chi-square forcategorical That which is unqualified or unconditional.A categorical imperative is a rule, command, or moral obligation that is absolutely and universally binding.Categorical is also used to describe programs limited to or designed for certain classes of people. variables. Continuous variables included those from thestandardized scales described earlier (that is, CRI, CAST, FES,self-esteem, satisfaction with social support), as well as age andsocioeconomic status, measured by years of education. To examinecontinuous and categorical predictors of continuous outcomessimultaneously, we used multiple regression analyses. Using theBonferroni correction In statistics, the Bonferroni correction states that if an experimenter is testing n independent hypotheses on a set of data, then the statistical significance level that should be used for each hypothesis separately is 1/n , the p cutoff of .05 becomes .002, as noted in thetables. However, given the exploratory nature of this study, p values of[less than or equal to] .05 are reported. RESULTS Characteristics of Participants Participants were heterogeneous,with black women somewhat older and less educated than white women (seeTable 1). Ninety-four percent of the women were raised by two biologicalparents; the others had one or two stepparents. Among those withalcoholic parents, their CAST scores were 6 to 27, with mothers'scores similar to fathers' (15.8 [+ or -] 6.7, compared with 17.0[+ or -] 5.6). Duration of parents' alcohol problems during theparticipant's childhood was substantial (11.2 [+ or -] 4.8 yearsfor one to two alcoholic parents), yet most alcoholic parents (69.1percent of fathers and 73.9 percent of mothers) received no treatment.Concordance between participants and siblings on the CAST was high forboth mothers (r = .78,p < .01) and fathers (r = .75,p < .01).Sibling-pair agreement was 91.6 percent (131/143) on whether the parenthad a drinking problem. Standardized Scales: Psychometric psy��cho��met��rics?n. (used with a sing. verb)The branch of psychology that deals with the design, administration, and interpretation of quantitative tests for the measurement of psychological variables such as intelligence, aptitude, and Properties Internal consistency In statistics and research, internal consistency is a measure based on the correlations between different items on the same test (or the same subscale on a larger test). It measures whether several items that propose to measure the same general construct produce similar scores. was satisfactory among our participants forthe 16 standardized scales used. Alphas for the eight scales that didnot focus on coping were all satisfactory ([greater than or equal to].72), as indicated in the Measures section. Reliability testing yieldedmoderate to strong alphas for the three coping methods: active cognitive=.70 (11 items, range = 0 to 3.3), active behavioral =.74 (13 items,range 0 to 39), and avoidant =.67 (8 items, 0 to 24), and moderatealphas for the five coping foci: logical analysis =.63 (4 items, 0 to12), information seeking = .65 (7 items, 0 to 21), problem solving = .62(5 items, 0 to 15), affective regulation =.57 (6 items, 0 to 18), andemotional discharge = .50 (6 items, 0 to 18). The low alphas for some ofthe coping subscales would be expected based on the small number ofitems; the overall coping index, however, has good reliability. Thesescores were similar to or stronger than reliability scores reported forthe original test participants (Moos, 1992a). Reliability for the blackwomen in our sample was equal to or stronger than that for the whitewomen on all eight CRI indices. Coping, by Parental Alcoholism Status and Race For the first research question, coping methods and loci wereexamined by race and parental alcoholism (Table 2a). Women withalcoholic parents scored higher than women without alcoholic parents onavoidant coping [F(1, 288) = 11.27, p < .001], but were similar onactive cognitive and behavioral coping. Effect sizes for the threecoping methods were < 0.1. Women did not differ by race on any scale.We further examined each of the 32 CRI coping items. The 10 items thatdiffered by parental alcoholism status, race, or the interaction of thetwo are presented (Table 2a).Women with an alcoholic parent were morelikely to use prayer and these avoidant coping items: reduced tension byeating more, refused to believe it, and took it out on others. Whitewomen reported four approach coping items (accepted it, talked with afriend, let my feelings out, and sought help from those with similarexperiences) more often than did black women. However, white women usedprayer less often. Some race differences varied by parental alcoholism,including "prayed" (among white women, but not black women,women with parental alcoholism prayed more), "got busy with otherthings" (among those with alcoholic parents, white women were lesslikely and black women were more likely), "seek help from thosewith similar experiences" (among black women only, those withparental alcoholism were more likely), and "reduce tension byexercising more" (among those with alcoholic parents, white womenwere less likely and black women were more likely). The coping loci showed only one significant main effect (Table2b):Women with parental alcoholism scored higher than women withoutparental alcoholism on emotional discharge [F(1, 284) = 5.77,p <.02]. The interaction between parental alcoholism and race wassignificant for affective regulation: Among those with alcoholicparents, white women scored lower on affective regulation, whereas blackwomen scored higher. Coping, by Childhood Stressors and Resources To understand whether childhood stressors and resources predictedcoping, we tested models for the five childhood stressors (that is,physical and sexual abuse, parental violence, parental psychopathology,family conflict, and parental alcoholism) entered alone; then the fourchildhood resources (that is, family organization, cohesion,expressiveness, and adolescent social support) entered alone; then onlythe significant variables adjusted for race and parental alcoholism(Table 3a). Family cohesion and expressiveness were not significant forany of the coping methods or loci. The model predicting avoidant copingwas strongest; the models predicting active coping showed low explainedvariance Explained variance is part of the variance of any residual that can be attributed to a specific condition (cause). The other part of variance is unexplained variance. The higher the explained variance relative to the total variance, the stronger the statistical measure used. . Greater family conflict and an absence of adolescent socialsupport were associated with more avoidant coping, with race again notsignificant. White race, child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse is an umbrella term describing criminal and civil offenses in which an adult engages in sexual activity with a minor or exploits a minor for the purpose of sexual gratification. , and adolescent socialsupport were associated with more active behavioral coping. Greaterfamily conflict was associated with more active cognitive coping; racewas not significant. Parental alcoholism was not significant in any ofthe models. The models to predict coping loci from childhood stressors andresources were low in explained variance (Table 3a, last three columns).Greater family conflict was associated with more logical analysis andemotional discharge, and adolescent social support was associated withmore information seeking. None of the remaining predictors wassignificantly related to the coping foci. Problem solving and affectiveregulation are not presented, as none of the predictors were significantin the multivariate models. Coping, by Current Resources Two coping resources, satisfaction with social support andself-esteem, were compared by coping methods and loci, adjusted for raceand parental alcoholism (Table 3b). Satisfaction with social support wasnot related to coping methods, whereas better self-esteem was associatedwith more active cognitive coping and less avoidant coping (higherself-esteem scores indicate worse self-esteem). White women scoredhigher on active behavioral coping and lower on avoidant coping thanblack women. Although the models for the two types of approach copingshowed low explained variance, the model for avoidant coping wasmoderately strong, primarily because of the effect of self-esteem. Self-esteem predicted three of the five coping foci when adjustedfor race and parental alcoholism: Better self-esteem was associated withmore logical analysis and problem solving and less emotional discharge(Table 3b). Greater satisfaction with social support predicted moreinformation seeking only. White women scored higher on logical analysisthan did black women, and parental alcoholism was not related to any ofthe coping foci. Although the model for emotional discharge wasmoderately strong because of the effect of self-esteem, explainedvariance was low for the remaining models. We considered whether stress, as measured by negative life eventswithin the past year, might have an effect on coping methods and foci.The analyses shown in Table 3b were repeated, controlling for negativelife events. The effect of the two coping resources was unchanged, withsimilar explained variance for the eight adjusted models (that is,increases from 0 to 3.2 percent). Although the results remained asdescribed earlier, there was a direct relationship between number ofnegative life events and use of avoidant and emotional discharge coping. DISCUSSION This study examined coping in a community sample of 290 black womenand white women over-sampled for black race and parental alcoholism. Allparticipants grew up in two-parent families. Women with alcoholicparents used more avoidant coping and also used more prayer. White womenwere more likely to use approach responses, except for prayer.Participants as a whole had lower avoidant than approach coping scores,in part, because there were fewer avoidant questions; thus, this resultwould be expected and is similar to earlier studies (Moos, 1992a) usingthis scale. However, fewer items did not entirely account for thedifference in this sample. Findings of more avoidant coping by women with alcoholic parentscontrast with other studies showing no differences, or very smalldifferences. Because our sample lived with their parents for at least 10years, the effects of alcoholic parents may be greater. These women withalcoholic parents may have become overreliant on avoidant coping, havingused it routinely to protect themselves from painful family situations;such overreliance may have been effective (Pearlin & Schooler,1978). Perhaps different life stressors call appropriately for differentcoping strategies The German Freudian psychoanalyst Karen Horney defined four so-called coping strategies to define interpersonal relations, one describing psychologically healthy individuals, the others describing neurotic states. . However, use of avoidant coping can take an emotionaltoll (Merrill, Thoresen, Sinclair, Gold, & Milner, 2001 ; Moos,2002; Perrott et al., 1998), so social workers in health and mentalhealth settings can be helpful to clients if they screen for parentalalcoholism. For those clients in need, education and skill practice onmore effective coping may help prevent mental health and medicalproblems. White women endorsed approach coping more often than did blackwomen, although black women used prayer more often. It may be that blackwomen depended more on avoidant coping; alternatively, perhaps in spiteof endorsing avoidant methods, they used prayer as their major copingstrategy. In this sample, black women were somewhat older and morelikely to have children, but had similar years of education. Possibly,different coping responses were appropriate, based on these women'sdifferent life situations. Banyard and Graham-Bermann (1993) proposed agreater focus on the ways in which social forces based on gender, race,socioeconomic status, age, and sexual orientation sexual orientationn.The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes, especially a direction seen to be dictated by physiologic rather than sociologic forces. influence coping. Theysuggested that a black woman who, for example, uses avoidant coping indealing with racial discrimination at work may know that the economicbenefits of that response outweigh the gains from approach coping. Childhood stressors and resources were only moderately successfulin predicting adult coping responses. Not surprisingly, negativechildhood family environment and absence of adolescent social supportswere associated with avoidant coping and emotional discharge. Race wasnot related to avoidant coping, but white race predicted approachcoping. Concerning coping resources, it is not surprising that betterself-esteem was associated with higher scores on approach coping methodsand loci, and lower scores on avoidant coping methods and foci:Self-esteem is a personal resource on which one can draw in appraisingthe level of threat posed by stressful situations and in feelingconfident about dealing with them. The CRI focused on a specific stressor, with no measure of numberof current stressful events, which limits interpretation of the data.Because all participants lived in two-parent families during childhood,the findings cannot be generalized to women who lived in one-parentfamilies or lived apart from their alcoholic parents for long periods inchildhood. Furthermore, alcoholic fathers were much more prevalent thanalcoholic mothers. Al-though the study did not use random selection, thecommunity sample avoided some of the bias inherent in relying on clinicpatients or college students. Study strengths include triangulation triangulation:see geodesy. The use of two known coordinates to determine the location of a third. Used by ship captains for centuries to navigate on the high seas, triangulation is employed in GPS receivers to pinpoint their current location on earth. ofresearch methods, standardized measures and multiple indicators, and abalanced sample by race and parental alcoholism. Sibling collaterals andtwo-parent Families are innovations in studies of this population. Prospective studies are needed to examine the effects on adultadjustment and coping among women with alcoholic mothers only and withalcoholic fathers only. Such studies would also assist in delineatingcoping responses that women with and without alcoholic parents use whenexperiencing common and predictable life changes, current stressfulevents, crisis situations, and chronic stressors. Answers are needed toquestions such as: How do alcoholic parents cope with life circumstancesand what influence do these patterns have on the coping of theiroffspring? Are some coping strategies more appropriate in particularstressful situations? To what extent do individuals use avoidant copingto "buy time" as they work their way to fixture use of moreapproach coping responses? Understanding coping better could help social workers developpsychoeducational methods to teach clients with alcoholic parentspreferred coping strategies; if directed to children, such interventionmight prevent later medical and mental health problems. However, as Moos(2002) pointed out, helping clients to change themselves is only oneaspect of a needed response. Some social problems require theintervention of social systems. Thus, social workers need to educatefamilies about the likely effects of untreated alcoholism, to encourageearlier treatment, and to raise public awareness that it is a treatablecondition for which effective strategies are available. Original manuscript received September 24, 2004 Final revision received July 7, 2006 Accepted August 10, 2006 REFERENCES Ball, R.. E., Warheit, G.J., Vandiver, J. S., & Holzer, C. E.III (1980). Friendship networks: More supportive of. low-income blackwomen? Ethnicity, 7, 70-77. Banyard, V. L., & Graham-Bermann, S. A. (1993). Can yeomencope? A gender analysis of theories or" coping with stress.Psychology of Women Quarterly, 17, 303-318. Bonanno, G. D., Keltner, D., Holen, A., & Horowitz, M.J.(1995). When avoiding unpleasant emotions might not be such a bad thing:Verbal-autonomic response dissociation dissociation,in chemistry, separation of a substance into atoms or ions. Thermal dissociation occurs at high temperatures. For example, hydrogen molecules (H2 and midlife mid��lifen.See middle age.adj.Of, relating to, or characteristic of middle age. conjugal Pertaining or relating to marriage; suitable or applicable to married people.Conjugal rights are those that are considered to be part and parcel of the state of matrimony, such as love, sex, companionship, and support. bereavement BereavementDefinitionBereavement refers to the period of mourning and grief following the death of a beloved person or animal. The English word bereavement .Journal of Personality and Social Psychology The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (often referred to as JPSP) is a monthly psychology journal of the American Psychological Association. It is considered one of the top journals in the fields of social and personality psychology. , 69, 975-989. Charland, H., & Cote, G. (1998).The Children of AlcoholicsScreening Test (CAST): Test retest re��test?tr.v. re��test��ed, re��test��ing, re��testsTo test again.n.A second or repeated test. reliability and concordance validity.Journal of Clinical Psychology The Journal of Clinical Psychology, founded in 1945, is a peer-reviewed forum devoted to psychological research, assessment, and practice. Published eight times a year, the Journal , 54, 995-1003. Clay, C. M., Ellis, M. A., Amodeo, M., Fassler, I., & Griffin,M. L. (2003). Recruiting a community sample of African Americansubjects: The nuts and bolts nuts and boltspl.n. SlangThe basic working components or practical aspects: "[proposing] if a successful effort. Families inSociety, 84, 396-404. Consedine, N. S., Magai, C., & Bonanno, G. A. (2002).Moderators of the emotion inhibition-health relationship: A review andresearch agenda. Review of General Psychology, 6, 204-228. Cronkite, R. C., & Moos, R. H. (1984). The role of predisposingand moderating factors in the stress-illness relationship. Journal ofHealth and Social Behavior In biology, psychology and sociology social behavior is behavior directed towards, or taking place between, members of the same species. Behavior such as predation which involves members of different species is not social. , 25, 372-393. Crosby, G. M., Stall, R. D., Paul, J. P., Barrett, D. C., &Midanik, L. T. (1996). Condom use among gay/bisexual male substanceabusers using the timeline follow-back method. Addictive Behaviors, 21,249-257. Domenico, D., & Windle, M. (1993). Intrapersonal in��tra��per��son��al?adj.Existing or occurring within the individual self or mind.intra��per andinterpersonal functioning among middle-aged female adult children ofalcoholics Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACAs) refers to individuals who have grown up in a dysfunctional household as a result of their caretakers's alcoholism. ACAs find they often have common characteristics into adulthood as the result of their childhood and upbringing, often . Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (JCCP) is a bimonthly psychology journal of the American Psychological Association. Its focus is on treatment and prevention in all areas of clinical and clinical-health psychology and especially on topics that appeal to a broad , 61, 659-666. Easley, M. J., & Epstein, N. (1991). Coping with stress in afamily with an alcoholic parent. Family Relations, 40, 218-224. Ell, K. O., & Nishimoto, R. H. (1989). Coping resources inadaptation to cancer: Socioeconomic and racial differences. SocialService Review, 63, 433-446. Fergusson, D. M., Lynskey, M. T., & Horwood, L. J. (1996).Childhood sexual abuse and psychiatric disorder in young adulthood:Prevalence of sexual abuse and factors associated with sexual abuse.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry A branch of psychiatry that specialises in work with children, teenagers, and their families. HistoryAn important antecedent to the specialty of child psychiatry was the social recognition of childhood as a special phase of life with its own developmental stages, starting with , 34,1355-1364. Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1980). An analysis of coping ina middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior,21, 219-239. Fox, K. M., & Gilbert, B. O. (1994). The interpersonal andpsychological functioning of women who experienced childhood physicalabuse, incest incest,sexual relations between persons to whom marriage is prohibited by custom or law because of their close kinship. Ideas of kinship, however, vary widely from group to group, hence the definition of incest also varies. , and parental alcoholism. Child Abuse & Neglect, 18,849-858. Ginzburg, K., Solomon, Z., & Bleich, A. (2002). Repressive re��pres��siveadj.Causing or inclined to cause repression. coping style, acute stress disorder Acute Stress DisorderDefinitionAcute stress disorder (ASD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by a cluster of dissociative and anxiety symptoms occurring within one month of a traumatic event. , and posttraumatic stress disorder Posttraumatic stress disorderAn anxiety disorder in some individuals who have experienced an event that poses a direct threat to the individual's or another person's life. after myocardial infarction myocardial infarction:see under infarction. . Psychosomatic Medicine psychosomatic medicine(sī'kōsōmăt`ĭk), study and treatment of those emotional disturbances that are manifested as physical disorders. , 64, 748-757. Gondolf, E. W, & Ackerman, R. J. (1993). Validity andreliability of an "Adult Children of Alcoholics" Index.International Journal of the Addictions, 28, 257-269. Gray-Little, B., & Hafdahl, A. R. (2000). Factors influencingracial comparisons of self-esteem: A quantitative review. PsychologicalBulletin, 126, 26-54. Griffin, M. L., Amodeo, M., Fassler, I. R., Ellis, M. A., &Clay, C. M. (2005). Mediating factors for the long-term effects ofparental alcoholism in women: The contribution of other childhoodstresses and resources. American Journal on Addictions, 14, 18-34. Haley, W. E., West, C. A. C., Wadley, V. G., Ford, G. R., White, F.A., Barrett, J. J., Harrell, L. E., & Roth, D. L. (1995).Psychological, social and health impact of caregiving: A comparison ofblack and white dementia family caregivers and noncaregivers. Psychologyand Aging, 10, 540-552. Hart, K. E., & McAleer, M. (1997). Anger coping style in adultchildren of alcoholics. Addiction Research, 5, 473-485. Harter, S. L. (2000). Psychosocial adjustment of adult children ofalcoholics: A review of the recent empirical literature. ClinicalPsychology Review, 20, 311-337. Holahan, C. J., & Moos, R. H. (1990). Life stressors,resistance factors, and improved psychological functioning: An extensionof the stress resistance paradigm. Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 58, 909-917. Holahan, C. J., & Moos, R. H. (1994). Life stressors and mentalhealth: Advances in conceptualizing stress resistance. In W R. Avison& I. H. Gotlib (Eds.), Stress and mental health: Contemporary issuesand prospects for the future (pp. 213-238). New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Plenum In a building, the space between the real ceiling and the dropped ceiling, which is often used as an air duct for heating and air conditioning. It is also filled with electrical, telephone and network wires. See plenum cable. Press. Johnson, D. G., Thomas, S. J., & Matre, M. (1990). Race, socialties, social support, and subjective well-being: Evidence from acommunity study. Sociological Focus, 23, 341-354. Jones, J. W. (1981). The Children of Alcoholics Screening Test(CAST). Chicago: Family Recovery Press. Kashubeck, S. (1994). Adult children of alcoholics andpsychological distress psychological distressThe end result of factors–eg, psychogenic pain, internal conflicts, and external stress that prevent a person from self-actualization and connecting with 'significant others'. See Humanistic psychology. . Journal of Counseling and Development, 72,538-543. Keith, P. M., Kim, S., & Schafer, R. B. (2000). Informal tiesof the unmarried in middle and later life: Who has them and who doesnot? Sociological Spectrum, 20(2), 221-238. Kelleher, K., Chaffin, M., Hollenberg, J., & Fischer, E.(1994). Alcohol and drug disorders among physically abusive andneglectful ne��glect��ful?adj.Characterized by neglect; heedless: neglectful of their responsibilities.See Synonyms at negligent.ne��glect parents in a community-based sample. American Journal ofPublic Health, 84, 1586-1590. Kelly, V. A., & Myers, J. E. (1996). Parental alcoholism andcoping: A comparison of female children of alcoholics with femalechildren of non-alcoholics. Journal of Counseling & Development, 74,501-504. Kobasa, S. C., Maddi, S. R., & Kahn, S. (1982). Hardiness andhealth: A prospective study. Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 47(1), 168-177. Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress appraisal andcoping. New York: Springer springera North American term commonly used to describe heifers close to term with their first calf. . Menees, M. M. (1997). The role of coping, social support, andfamily communication in explaining the self-esteem of adult children ofalcoholics. Communication Reports, 10(1), 9-19. Menees, M. M., & Segrin, C. (2000). The specificity ofdisrupted processes in families of adult children of alcoholics. Alcoholand Alcoholism, 35, 361-367. Merrill, L. L., Thomsen, C. J., Sinclair, B. B., Gold, S. R., &Milner, J. S. (2001). Predicting the impact of child sexual abuse onwomen: The role of abuse severity, parental support, and copingstrategies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69, 992-1006. Midanik, L. T., Hines, A. M., Barrett, D. C., Paul, J. P., Crosby,G. M., & Stall, R. D. (1998). Self-reports of alcohol use, drug use,and sexual behavior sexual behaviorA person's sexual practices–ie, whether he/she engages in heterosexual or homosexual activity. See Sex life, Sexual life. : Expanding the timeline follow-back technique.Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 59, 681-689. Moos, R. H. (1992a). Coping Responses Inventory: Adult form manual.Palo Alto Palo Alto, city, CaliforniaPalo Alto(păl`ō ăl`tō), city (1990 pop. 55,900), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1894. Although primarily residential, Palo Alto has aerospace, electronics, and advanced research industries. , CA: Center for Health Care Evaluation, Stanford University Stanford University,at Stanford, Calif.; coeducational; chartered 1885, opened 1891 as Leland Stanford Junior Univ. (still the legal name). The original campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. David Starr Jordan was its first president. and Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Affairs is a term of the business that deals with the relation between a government and its veteran communities, usually administered by the designated government agency. Medical Centers. Moos, R. H. (1992b). Stress and coping theory and evaluationresearch: An integrated perspective. Evaluation Review, 16, 534-553. Moos, R. H. (2002). The mystery of human context and coping: Anunraveling of clues. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30,67-88. Moos, R. H., & Billings, A. G. (1982). Conceptualizing andmeasuring coping resources and processes. In L. Goldberger & S.Brenznitz (Eds.), Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects(pp. 212-230). New York: Macmillan. Moos, R. H., Cronkite, R. C., Billings, A. G., & Finney, J. W.(1984). Health and daily living form manual. Palo Alto, CA: SocialEcology While the field of ecology focuses on the relationships between organisms and their environments, social ecology is a philosophy concerned with the relationships between humans and their environments. Laboratory, Veterans Administration and Stanford UniversityMedical Center Stanford University Medical Center (Stanford Hospital & Clinics) is one of four hospitals affiliated with Stanford University and Stanford University School of Medicine, along with the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Palo Alto, and Santa . Moos, R. H., Finney, J., & Cronkite, R. (1990). Alcoholismtreatment: Context, process, and outcome. New York: Oxford UniversityPress. Moos, R. H., & Moos, B., (1981). Family Environment Scalemanual, Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologist Press. Palmer, N. (1997). Resilience in adult children of alcoholics: Anonpathological approach to social work practice. Health & SocialWork, 22, 201-209. Pearlin, L. I., & Schooler, C. (1978). The structure of coping.Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19, 2-21. Perrott, K., Morris, E., Martin, J, & Romans, S. (1998).Cognitive coping styles of women sexually abused in childhood: Aqualitative study. Child Abuse & Neglect, 22, 1135-1149. Proctor, B. D., & Dalaker, J. (2003). Poverty in the UnitedStates Poverty in the United States refers to people whose annual family income is less than a "poverty line" set by the U.S. government. Poverty is a condition in which a person or community is deprived of, or lacks the essentials for, a minimum standard of well being and life. : 2002 (U. S. Census Bureau Noun 1. Census Bureau - the bureau of the Commerce Department responsible for taking the census; provides demographic information and analyses about the population of the United StatesBureau of the Census , Current Population Reports, p.60-222). Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office. Rodney, H. E. (1994). What differentiates ACOAs and non-ACOAs on ablack college campus? Journal of American College Health, 43, 57-63. Rodney, H. E., & Rodney, L. (1996). An exploratory study ofAfrican American collegiate adult children of alcoholics. Journal ofAmerican College Health, 44, 267-272. Rosenberg, M. (1972). Society and the adolescent self-image.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Princeton University,at Princeton, N.J.; coeducational; chartered 1746, opened 1747, rechartered 1748, called the College of New Jersey until 1896.Schools and Research Facilities Press. Sarason, I. G., Sarason, B. R., Shearin, E. N., & Pierce, G. R.(1987). A brief measure of social support: Practical and theoreticalimplications. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 4, 497-510. Scavnicky-Mylant, M. (1990). The process of coping among youngadult children of alcoholics. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 11,125-139. Segrin, C., & Menees, M. M. (1996). The impact of coping stylesand family communication on the social skills of children of alcoholics.Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 57, 29-33. Smerglia, V. L., Deimling, G. T., & Barresi, C. M. (1988).Black/white family comparisons in helping and decision-making networksof impaired elderly. Family Relations, 37, 305-309. Sobell, L. S., & Sobell, M. B. (1992). Timeline follow-back: Atechnique for assessing self-reported alcohol consumption. In R. Z.Litten & J. P. Allen (Eds.), Measuring alcohol consumptionpsychosocial and biochemical bi��o��chem��is��try?n.1. The study of the chemical substances and vital processes occurring in living organisms; biological chemistry; physiological chemistry.2. methods (pp. 41-72). Totowa, NJ: HumanaPress. Somerfield, M. R., & McCrea, R. R. (2000). Stress and copingresearch. American Psychologist, 55, 620-625. Steffen, P. R., Hinderliter, A. L., Blumenthal, J. A., &Sherwood, A. (2001). Religious coping, ethnicity, and ambulatory bloodpressure Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) measures blood pressure at regular intervals throughout the day and night. It is believed to be able to reduce the white coat hypertension effect. . Psychosomatic Medicine, 63, 523-530. Wallsten, S. S. (2000). Effects of caregiving, gender, and race onthe health, mutuality, and social supports of older couples. Journal ofAging and Health, 12, 90-111. Werner, L. J., & Broida, J. P. (1991). Adult self-esteem andlocus of control locus of controln.A theoretical construct designed to assess a person's perceived control over his or her own behavior. The classification internal locus indicates that the person feels in control of events; external locus as a function of familial familial/fa��mil��i��al/ (fah-mil��e-il) occurring in more members of a family than would be expected by chance. fa��mil��ialadj. alcoholism and dysfunction.Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 52, 249-252. Maryann Amodeo, PhD, MSW (MicroSoft Word) See Microsoft Word. , is professor of clinical practice, Schoolof Social Work, Boston University, 264 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215;e-mail: mamodeo@bu.edu. Margaret L. Griffin, PhD, is senior researchassociate, Irene Fassler, MSW, is research assistant, Cassandra Clay,MSW, is clinical professor, and Michael A. Ellis, MSW, is researchassistant, School of Social Work, Boston University. The authors wish tothank the Greater Boston Council on Alcoholism for providing partialfunding for this research. A poster was presented at a meeting of theCollege on Problems of Drug Dependence, June 2005, Orlando, FL.Table 1: Background Characteristics of Participants, by Race (N = 290) Black White Women Women (n = 132) (n = 158)Age (M, SD) (a) 39.7, [+ or -] 9.0 36.3, [+ or -] 11.0Years education (M, SD) (b) 14.1, [+ or -] 2.2 15.3, [+ or -] 2.0Employed (% yes) 65.9 68.4Marital status (% yes) 40.9 32.2Parents (% yes) (c) 57.6 27.2Household income (%) Less than $20,001 40.6 41.8 $20,001-40,000 25.8 26.1 More than $40,000 33.6 32.0(a) t(287.9) = -2.89, p < .004.(b) (266.1) = 4.61, p < .001.(c) [chi square] (1, N = 290) = 27.40, p < .001.Table 2a: Coping Methods and Selected Items (mean scores), by Raceand Parental Alcoholism Parental No Parental Alcoholism Alcoholism White Black White Black Women Women Women WomenCoping Method (n = 70) (n = 56) (n = 88) (n = 76)Approach coping Active cognitive 19.4 19.4 18.4 18.1 Accepted it 1.4 1.3 1.5 1.1 Prayed 2.2 2.4 1.3 2.3 Active behavioral 21.9 21.7 22.9 20.1 Talked with a friend 2.4 2.2 2.5 2.0 Got busy with other things 1.8 2.0 2.0 1.5 Let my feelings out 2.2 1.8 2.2 1.9 Sought help from those with similar experiences 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.0 Reduce tension by exercising more 0.6 0.7 1.1 0.6Avoidant coping Avoidance 6.1 6.5 4.4 4.9 Reduce tension by eating more 0.9 1.0 0.7 0.5 Refused to believe it 0.7 0.9 0.4 0.6 Took it out on others 1.1 0.9 0.8 0.6 p Parental Inter- Alcohol- actionCoping Method Race ismApproach coping Active cognitive ns ns ns Accepted it .032 ns ns Prayed .001 * .001 * .005 Active behavioral ns ns ns Talked with a friend .001 * ns ns Got busy with other things ns ns .005 Let my feelings out .006 ns ns Sought help from those with similar experiences .024 ns .008 Reduce tension by exercising more ns ns .017Avoidant coping Avoidance ns .001 * ns Reduce tension by eating more ns .005 ns Refused to believe it ns .002 * ns Took it out on others ns .013 ns* ps < .002 are Bonferroni corrected; ps < .05 also shown.Table 2b: Coping Foci (mean scores), by Race and Parental Alcoholism Parental No Parental Alcoholism Alcoholism White Black White Black Women Women Women WomenCoping Foci (n = 70) (n = 56) (n = 88) (n = 76)Approach/Problem- focused Logical analysis 7.4 7.1 7.4 6.6 Information seeking 13.2 12.9 12.9 12.6 Problem solving 8.5 8.9 8.6 8.5Avoidant/Emotion- focused Emotional discharge 5.0 4.8 4.4 3.9 Affective regulation 8.7 9.4 9.3 8.0 p Parental Inter- Alcohol- actionCoping Foci Race ismApproach/Problem- focused Logical analysis ns ns ns Information seeking ns ns ns Problem solving ns ns nsAvoidant/Emotion- focused Emotional discharge ns .017 ns Affective regulation ns ns .037Notes: * ps < .002 are Bonferroni corrected; ps < .05 are shown.Table 3a: Coping Methods and Foci, by Childhood Stresses andResources, Adjusted for Race and Parental Alcoholism Methods Active ActiveChildhood Stressors Behavioral Cognitive AvoidantParental alcoholism .010 .055 .062Physical abuse -.070 -- .034Parental violence -- -- .102Parental psychiatric problem -- -- --Sexual abuse .140 * -- --Family conflict -- .125 * .198 *Childhood resourcesFamily organization -- -- --Adolescent social support .122 * -- -.208 **Race -.132 * .004 .055[R.sup.2] (%) 4.9 * 2.3 15.8 ** Foci Logical Emotional InformationChildhood Stressors Analysis Discharge SeekingParental alcoholism -.010 .023 .064Physical abuse -- -- -.080Parental violence -- .117 --Parental psychiatric problem .110 -- --Sexual abuse -- .085 --Family conflict .172 * .167 * --Childhood resourcesFamily organization -- -- --Adolescent social support -- -- .147 *Race .072 -.078 -.035[R.sup.2] (%) 5.4 * 8.3 ** 3.4 *Note: Coefficients are standardized betas;--is used for variablesnot entered in the final models.* p < .05. ** p < .002.Table 3b: Coping Methods and Foci, by Coping Resources, Adjusted forRace and Parental Alcoholism MethodsCoping Active ActiveResource Behavioral Cognitive AvoidantSatisfaction with support .084 .014 -.074Self-esteem -.113 -.171 * .476 **Parental alcoholism .028 .113 .148 *Race -.147 * -.052 .153 *[R.sup.2] (%) 4.0 * 4.0 * 28.7 ** FociCoping Logical Problem AffectiveResource Analysis Solving RegulationSatisfaction with support -.093 -.015 .033Self-esteem -.229 ** -.193 * -.071Parental alcoholism .057 .040 .045Race -.137 * -.015 -.077[R.sup.2] (%) 5.5 * 3.5 * 1.2 FociCoping Emotional InformationResource Discharge SeekingSatisfaction with support .069 .182 *Self-esteem .448 ** -.078Parental alcoholism .101 .050Race .01 -.072[R.sup.2] (%) 19.7 ** 5.1 *Note: Coefficients are standardized betas.* p < .05. ** p < .002.