Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T10:06:47.316Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Degree of Sobriety in Male Alcoholics and Coping Styles used by their Wives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Jack B. Schaffer  and
John D. Tyler
Jack B. Schaffer
Affiliation:
Department of Family Practice and Community Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
John D. Tyler
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58202
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The ‘Coping With Drinking’ questionnaire, administered to 124 A1-anon members, was factor analyzed and revealed nine identifiable styles of coping. Multiple regression analyses between three measures of sobriety and each of the nine styles of coping factors provide support for the general hypothesis that the coping styles used by wives of alcoholics are related to drinking outcome. Further, those modes of coping in which the wife communicates her feelings of distress and frustration to the drinking husband in a way which is minimally threatening for him seem to be most positively related to his attainment of sobriety.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 135 , Issue 5 , November 1979 , pp. 431 - 437
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1979 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bailey, M. B. (1967) Psychophysiological impairment in wives of alcoholics as related to their husbands' drinking and sobriety. In Alcoholism: Behavioural Research, Therapeutic Approaches (ed. Fox, R.). New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Boggs, M. H. (1944) The role of social work in the treatment of inebriates. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 4, 557–67.Google Scholar
Bowers, K. S. (1973) Situationism in psychology: an analysis and a critique. Psychological Review, 80, 307–36.Google Scholar
Cork, M. R. (1956) Case work in a group setting with wives of alcoholics. The Social Worker, 14, 1–6.Google Scholar
Dreikurs, R. (1964) Children: The Challenge. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc.Google Scholar
Forizs, L. (1953) Alcoholic rehabilitation. North Carolina Medical Journal, 14, 97–100.Google Scholar
Futterman, S. (1953) Personality trends in wives of alcoholics. Journal of Psychiatric Social Work, 23, 37–41.Google Scholar
Jackson, J. K. (1954) The adjustment of the family to the crisis of alcoholism. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 15, 373–81.Google Scholar
Jacob, T., Favorini, A., Meisel, S. S. & Anderson, C. M. (1978) The alcoholic's spouse, children and family interactions: substantitive findings and methodological issues. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 39, 1231–51.Google Scholar
James, J. E. & Goldman, M. (1972) Behaviour trends of wives of alcoholics. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 32, 373–81.Google Scholar
Kogan, K. L. & Jackson, J. K. (1961) Some role perceptions of wives of alcoholics. Psychological Report, 9, 119–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kogan, K. L. & Jackson, J. K. (1963) Role perceptions in wives of alcoholics and non-alcoholics. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 24, 627–39.Google Scholar
Kogan, K. L. & Jackson, J. K. (1964a) Patterns of atypical perceptions of self and spouse in wives of alcoholics. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 25, 555–7.Google Scholar
Kogan, K. L. & Jackson, J. K. (1964b) Personality adjustment and childhood experiences. Journal of Health and Human Behaviour, 5, 50–4.Google Scholar
Kogan, K. L. & Jackson, J. K. (1965) Some concomitants of personal difficulties in wives of alcoholics and non-alcoholics. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 26, 595–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaForge, R. & Suczek, R. F. (1955) The interpersonal dimension of personality: III. An interpersonal check list. Journal of Personality, 24, 94–112.Google Scholar
Lemert, E. M. (1960) The occurence and sequency of events in the adjustment of families to alcoholism. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcoholism, 21, 679–97.Google Scholar
Lewis, M. G. (1937) Alcoholism and family case work. The Family, 18, 39–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
More, M. & Gray, M. G. (1941) Alcoholism at the Boston City Hospital. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 2, 18–34.Google Scholar
Orford, J. & Guthrie, S. (1968) Coping behaviour used by wives of alcoholics: a preliminary investigation. International Congress of Alcohol and Alcoholism, abstract 28th, p. 97.Google Scholar
Orford, J., Guthrie, S., Nicholls, P., Oppenheimer, E., Egert, F. & Hensman, C. (1975) Self-reported coping behaviour of wives of alcoholics and its association with drinking outcome. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 36, 1254–67.Google Scholar
Rae, J. B. (1972) The influence of wives on the treatment outcome of alcoholics: a follow-up study at two years. British Journal of Psychiatry, 120, 601–13.Google Scholar
Smith, C. G. (1969) Alcoholics: their treatment and their wives. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 1039–42.Google Scholar
von Bertalanffy, L. (1968) General System Theory. New York: George Braziller.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.