Coping Behavior and Depressive Symptoms in Adult Children of Alcoholics

Abstract

This paper examined whether adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) would report more depressive mood symptoms as compared to non-ACOAs, whether coping behaviors differed as a function of ACOA status, and whether specific coping behaviors were related to depressive mood symptoms in ACOAs. Participants were 136 college students categorized as ACOAs and 436 college students categorized as non-ACOAs as determined by scores on the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST; J.W.Jones, The children of alcoholics screening test: test manual. Chicago: Camelot). As compared to non-ACOAs, ACOAs reported significantly more symptoms of depressive mood as measured by the Profile of Mood States (POMS; McNair, Lorr, and Droppleman, POMS manual: profile of mood states. San Diego, CA: Edits). On the COPE Inventory (Carver, Scheier, and Weintraub, Assessing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56:267–283), ACOAs reported higher use of the following coping strategies: Behavior Disengagement, Denial, Focus on and Venting of Emotions, Humor, and Substance Use. For both the ACOA and non-ACOA groups, the use of Positive Reinterpretation and Growth and the use of Planning were significantly associated with fewer depressive symptoms, whereas Mental Disengagement, Focus on and Venting of Emotions, Denial, Behavior Disengagement, Substance Use, and Suppression of Competing Activities were associated with higher depressive mood scores.

RÈSUMÈ

Le présent document a examiné si les enfants adultes d'alcooliques (ACOAs) ne signalent plus de symptômes d'humeur dépressive par rapport aux non-ACOAs, si les comportements d'adaptation diffère en fonction du statut de l'APECA, et qu'elles soient spécifiques d'adaptation des comportements étaient liés à des troubles de l'humeur dépressive chez ACOAs. Les participants étaient 136 élèves des collèges classés comme ACOAs et 436 étudiants des collèges classés comme non-ACOAs tel que déterminé par les scores sur les enfants d'alcooliques test de dépistage (CAST; Jones, 1983). Par rapport aux non-ACOAs, ACOAs signalé des symptômes significativement plus d'humeur dépressive, mesurée par le Profile of Mood States (POMS; McNair, Lorr, & Droppleman, 1992). Sur l'inventaire COPE (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989), ACOAs déclaré une hausse de l'utilisation des stratégies d'adaptation suivantes: Comportement de désengagement, le déni, et Focus on Ventilation des émotions, Humor, and Substance Use. Tant pour l'APECA et les groupes non de l'APECA, l'utilisation de réinterprétation positif et la croissance et l'utilisation de la planification ont été significativement associés à des symptômes dépressifs moins nombreux, tandis que le désengagement mental, Focus on et ventilation du émotions, le déni, le désengagement de comportement, de toxicomanie, et répression des activités concurrentes ont été associés à des scores plus élevés d'humeur dépressive.

Mots-clés: enfants adultes d'alcooliques, Coping Strategies, enfants d'alcooliques.

RESUMEN

Este trabajo estudió si los hijos adultos de alcohólicos (hijos de padres alcohólicos) que informe del estado de ánimo más síntomas depresivos, en comparación a los no hijos de padres alcohólicos, si las conductas de afrontamiento difieren en función de la condición de ACOA, y si las conductas de afrontamiento específicas están relacionadas con los síntomas del estado de ánimo depresivo en hijos de padres alcohólicos. Los participantes fueron 136 estudiantes universitarios de la categoría de hijos de padres alcohólicos y 436 estudiantes universitarios de la categoría de no-hijos de padres alcohólicos, determinado por las puntuaciones de los hijos de alcohólicos Screening Test (CAST, Jones, 1983). En comparación a los no hijos de padres alcohólicos, hijos de padres alcohólicos reportaron significativamente más síntomas de estado de ánimo depresivo, medida por el Profile of Mood States (POMS; McNair, Lorr, y Droppleman, 1992). En el inventario COPE (Carver, Scheier & Weintraub, 1989), hijos de padres alcohólicos reportaron mayor uso de las siguientes estrategias de afrontamiento: Separación de comportamiento, la negación, el Focus y venteo de las emociones, el humor y consumo de sustancias. Por tanto la ACOA y los grupos no ACOA, el uso de la reinterpretación positiva y crecimiento y el empleo de Planificación se asociaron significativamente con menos síntomas depresivos, mientras que la Separación Mental, Enfoque y venteo de las emociones, la negación, el comportamiento de la Separación, uso de sustancias, y represión de actividades que compiten se asoció con puntuaciones más altas del estado de ánimo depresivo.

Palabras clave: Hijos Adultos de Alcohólicos, estrategias de afrontamiento, hijos de alcohólicos.

Keywords :

• Adult children of alcoholics
• coping strategies
• children of alcoholics

THE AUTHORS

Keith Klostermann, Ph.D. is a Research Assistant Professor at Old Dominion University. Dr. Klostermann's research interests lie in each of the following general areas: (a) intimate partner violence (IPV) among married or cohabiting substance-abusing patients; (b) marital and family therapy with substance-abusing patients; (c) psychosocial adjustment of families (i.e., parents and children); and (d) parent training with substance-abusing patients who have custodial children.

Dr. Rui Chen is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology at the University of Rochester. Her research areas of interest include stochastic modeling (such as branching process) and associated statistical methods for biological processes in cell biology and immunology; longitudinal data analysis on behavioral and psychosocial research; mixture model and composite likelihood inference; biostatistics in clinical research.

Michelle L.Kelley, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Old Dominion University. Her primary research interests are in the psychosocial functioning of children living with fathers or mothers dependent on alcohol or other drugs, and research examining the effectiveness of parent treatment for alcoholism or other substance addiction for children's immediate and short-term psychosocial functioning.

Valarie Schroeder received her M.S. in Psychology from Old Dominion University and currently works at Wright State University as a Research Associate 1. Her research interests include the cognitive and social development of offspring of alcohol and other drug abusers, as well as of normally developing children.

Abby L. Braitman is a graduate student in Old Dominion University's applied experimental psychology doctoral program. Her focus is on quantitative methods, particularly longitudinal data analysis within the field of risky health behaviors. She has been a course instructor for statistics and research methods, as well as completing research in the field of health psychology.

Theresa Mignone, Ph.D., is a Psychologist at the VA Western New York Healthcare Center. Dr. Mignone's primary research interest involves treatments for partner violence among married or cohabiting substance-abusing patients in both the general population and military samples.