Running head: PERSONALITY, ALCOHOL, AND COPING
Alcohol Consumption: Personality Type and
Coping Behavior
Kerry O’ Mahoney
Abstract
Research supports the notion that particular personality types and specific coping behaviors have a significant impact on alcohol consumption. (Fromme & Rivet 1994) This investigation will examine introversion and extroversion and vigilant and avoidant coping on the consumption of alcohol. It is hypothesized that there will be a significant interaction between personality type and coping behaviors such that the amount and frequency of alcohol consumption, with extroverted, avoidant personality types having consumed the most alcohol more frequently. Data will be collected through: A 2 (Personality Type) x 2 (Coping Behavior) analysis of variance will be conducted.
Personality
Effects and Coping Behavior on Alcohol Consumption
A growing body of research has explored alcohol consumption with a number of different variables. One of the variables explored through research has been personality type. Research has shown that extroverted individuals are those who are generally sociable, active and out going (Eysenck, 1976). A general definition of introversion and extroversion is a dimension of personality concerned with a person’s general level of activity and sociability (Burger 2000). Eysenck’s biologically based theory describes introverts as people who are generally quiet, reserved and thoughtful, they are thought to have relatively higher level of brain arousal, which causes them to shy away from over stimulating social environments . Research has looked at the interaction of personality and alcohol and a positive correlation has been found between extroversion and alcohol consumption. (Cook 1998).
Coping strategies
are cognitive, behavioral, or physiological processes that help a person deal
with everyday stressful or unpleasant information. People who are classified as having avoidant coping behaviors prefer
not to be aware of negative information, so they distract themselves from all
negative situations. This type of person worries less because they do not dwell
on this negative information (Burns, Dittman, Ngoc-Loan, & Mitchelson 2001).
Previous research has found that people with this type of behavior have certain
negative characteristics, such as procrastination, problems with time management
(Milgram, Marshevsky &
Sadeh, 1995), task aversive ness (Milgram, Batori, & Mowrer, 1993), thrill
seeking, and intolerance of arousal (Krohne’s, 1989, 1993).
People who are classified as having a vigilant coping style are more likely to exaggerate threatening information in situations of high anxiety and stress, and are more likely to seek medical help most of the time unnecessarily. Vigilant behavior causes people to actively seek information about health care (Miller, 1996), and are highly disposed to preparation and preventative control and show a need for as much information as possible before beginning a new task (Burger & Cooper1979).
Extensive research has been done on alcohol; one such study examined the relationship between coping and alcohol expectancies and drinking refusal and how accurately the participant could predict their drinking behavior (Hasking, 2002.). A second study focused on the role of stress in alcohol use, alcoholism, treatment and relapse. This study presents information on a study which examined the role that stress plays in the amount of alcohol a person consumes. This study also reviews the neurobiological connections between stress and addiction and the connection between stress and relapse (Brady 1999)
Some methods of coping are predictive of alcohol consumption (Fromme& Rivet 1994). This deficits in emotion focused coping and low levels of avoidant or “less useful” coping resources were predictive of increased frequency of alcohol consumption. Another study found that coping only became significant predictor of consumption in later stages of life. Fromme and Rivet (1994) found that avoidance coping was found to predict increased levels of alcohol consumption. Research has been done in this area with alcoholics in treatment and their chances of a relapse. I wish to see if these two variables will influence their likely hood to develop alcoholism since it is influential on their recovery after the progression of the disease.
This research is a 2x2 design, this study is going to examine the interaction of personality and coping skills and how it will affect the quantity and frequency of consumption of alcohol. It is hypothesized that there will be an interaction between personality type and coping behavior‘s, so that an individual’s alcohol consumption will depend on whether or not they are an extrovert or introvert and whether or not they employ an avoidant or vigilant coping strategy.
Main effects for both variables will be used to support previous research on the issue. It is hypothesized that there will be a main effect of personality type on alcohol consumption so that extroverted individuals will have a higher score on the alcohol consumption questionnaire than introverted individuals. In addition, it is hypothesized that there will be a main effect for coping behavior, so that avoidant individuals consume more alcohol than vigilant individuals.
Method
Participants
Participants will consist
of a random sample of 40 undergraduate students ( 20
women and 20 men ) who volunteered to participate. These participants who complete
all measures will receive extra credit points in their psychology classes if
they are psychology students. Volunteers were treated according to the Ethical
Principles of psychologists and Code of Conduct” ( American Psychological Association,
1992 ) .
Questionnaires
The Ways of Coping
Checklist (Lazarus and Folkman 1984) will be used to
determine the participant’s coping behavior. The NEO-PI will be used to
separate the participants into two groups, introverts and extraverts. The Khavari Alcohol Test (KAT: Khavari
and Farber, 1978) this test will be used to measure both the average frequency
of alcohol consumption and the volume of alcohol consumed per year. This test
consists of 12 questions in reference to the participants’ usual and maximum
drinking patterns.
Procedure
Participants will complete the aforementioned questionnaires.
After completion of these questionnaires participants will receive a debriefing
statement and any questions will be answered by the researcher.
Results
A 2 (Personality
Type) x 2 (Coping Behavior) analysis of variance was conducted to determine
significance of data. Two main
effects and an interaction were found statistically significant. An alpha level
of .05 was used for all statistical tests. Extroverted avoidant subjects were
found to consume the most alcohol ( M = 92.2, SD = 29.1). Extroverted vigilant subjects consumed
the second ,ost fo the four
groups ( M = 63.1, SD = 29.1) Introverted avoidant subjects ( M = 41.2, SD = 16.9) were found to consume more than
Introverted Vigilant subjects ( M = 24.3,
SD = 16.9) but less than both
groups of extroverts. A main effect of
personality was found,
F (1, 36) = 317.454,
p< 0.05. A
main effect of coping behavior was also found, F (1, 36)
= 83.300, p< 0.05.
There also was a significant interaction between the two independent
variables personality (extroversion, introversion) and coping behavior
(avoidant, vigilant) F (1, 36) = 5.859,
p < 0.05. see Figure 1
Discussion
The findings in this research are congruent with the findings of previous research. A main effect was found of personality which supports Cook’s (1998) findings that personality does have an effect on the amount of alcohol a person consumes. Also Cook (1998) found that extroverts consume more alcohol then introverts which is also supported by this research. Past research (Fromme & Rivet 1994) had found that avoidant coping styles indicates increased levels of alcohol consumption. As was hypothesized by this research the interaction of personality and coping behavior has an effect on the quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption. Extroverted personality types with avoidant coping styles consumed alcohol with the greatest frequency and quantity of all four groups. From this we can conclude that subjects who are extroverted and who exhibit avoidant behaviors are more likely to develop a drinking problem. These findings are important to the collective knowledge about what contributes to the development of alcoholism. Previous research has been done to examine how personality and coping skills contribute to the chances of relapse. It is critical to recovery of patients to identify the triggers associated with their substance or alcohol abuse. This research may help with the identification of the underlying problem that is a contributing factor to their illness. The information in the study reinforces the findings of previous research and points out populations of people who may be at risk. This research does not suggest that these are the only factors into the development of alcoholism, but these may be contributing factors, many other areas should be examined or studied in relationship to the variables in this research. Some such areas that should be considered are self esteem, social anxiety, self efficacy.. Also further research should be done on the use of alcohol and other substances as a way of coping with stress inducing or negative situations. Alcohol expectancies are also important to examine in relation to coping behavior.
References
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