Psychology Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Psychology Project - Essay Example There have been many studies done in order to determine these. The first article was entitled â€Å"Further Refining the Stress-Coping Model of Alcohol Awareness†. In this article, it was shown that coping measures as far as alcohol consumption and stress differ in regards to the type of stress that is encountered. It was hypothesized based on previous experimentation that men are more likely to encounter heavy drinking as a coping mechanism than females due to their limited coping abilities. There have also been inconsistencies in trying to diagnose whether specific people are more prone to this kind of coping measure than others. The first deals with the variability, which is experienced across the board when people deal with stress. This being that coping measures are not just maladaptive or adaptive, but each are tailored to deal with a certain type of stressor. The second is that there has not been substantial evidence and consistency in showing that gender factors play a role in coping and drinking. The experimental design for this study was a short-term design, which was based on self-reporting measures. In particular, three variables were hypothesized that could take into account for gender differences. The first is coping using the support of others. It has been shown that students that are experiencing a stressor in regards to a relationship or social situation are less likely to turn to alcohol if their coping mechanisms are more guided towards the support of others. In particular, it has been shown in women that experience an interpersonal stressor that they are less likely to drink as a coping measure due to greater social support seeking. The second hypothesis shows that the more in control of the external stressors that a person is experiencing, the less likely they are to turn to alcohol as a coping measure. The third hypothesis is based on previous research which states that men are more likely to use active seeking coping strategies and women are more likely to seek social supporting strategies for coping. Thus the use of alcohol was found to be higher in males than in females. The population had a sample size of 83 participants from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. These participants were tested using many different types of surveys and testing batteries. They were prescreened with the Michigan Alcohol Screening Tests and the College Students’ Recent Life Experiences test. These stressful factors were then broken down into four core areas: life management, social relationships, school, and general social adjustment. Then, they returned for three weeks and were asked how many times they engaged in heavy drinking, which was defined as five or more alcoholic drinks. The final survey that had to take was the COPE to assess their skills in active coping, avoidant coping, and social support seeking coping. The statistics were analyzed using mixed modeling interactions and this took into account correlation coefficients and t-test values. Men that had higher scores in active coping and social support seeking coping were less likely to engage in dangerous activities involving alcohol. If men using avoidant coping measures, they were more likely to engage in the use of alcohol. For women, the same statistical data was also recorded. There is some validity to the measures that were