Skip to main content
PMC home page
Indian Journal of Psychiatry logoLink to Indian Journal of Psychiatry
. 1992 Oct-Dec;34(4):359–365.

A STUDY ON THE COPING BEHAVIOURS OF WIVES OF ALCOHOLICS

TS Sathyanarayana Rao 1,✉, K Kuruvilla 2
PMCID: PMC2982974  PMID: 21776145

Abstract

A study was conducted on 30 wives of alcoholics using Orford-Guthrie's ‘coping with drinking’ questionnaire. Tlie commonest coping behaviour reported was discord, avoidance, indulgence and fearful withdrawal while marital breakdown, taking special action, assertion and sexual withdrawal were least frequent. There was no significant correlation between the coping behaviours and the variables like duration of marriage, duration of husband’s alcoholism, socio-economic and educational status. Implications of these findings are discussed and a cross cultural comparison is made.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (255.4 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Asher R., Brissett D. Codependency: a view from women married to alcoholics. Int J Addict. 1988 Apr;23(4):331–350. doi: 10.3109/10826088809039202. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bergman B., Larsson G., Brismar B., Klang M. Aetiological and precipiating factors in wife battering. A psychosocial study of battered wives. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1988 Mar;77(3):338–345. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1988.tb05131.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cattell R. R., Nesselroade J. R. Likeness and completeness theories examined by sixteen personality factor measures on stably and unstably married couples. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1967 Dec;7(4):351–361. doi: 10.1037/h0025248. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Edwards P., Harvey C., Whitehead P. C. Wives of alcoholics. A critical review and analysis. Q J Stud Alcohol. 1973 Mar;34(1):112–132. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Farid B., el Sherbini M., Raistrick D. Cognitive group therapy for wives of alcoholics--a pilot study. Drug Alcohol Depend. 1986 Jul;17(4):349–358. doi: 10.1016/0376-8716(86)90084-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. HABERMAN P. W. PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST SCORE CHANGES FOR WIVES OF ALCOHOLICS DURING PERIODS OF DRINKING AND SOBRIETY. J Clin Psychol. 1964 Apr;20:230–232. doi: 10.1002/1097-4679(196404)20:2<230::aid-jclp2270200208>3.0.co;2-c. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Holmila M., Mustonen H., Rannik E. Alcohol use and its control in Finnish and Soviet marriages. Br J Addict. 1990 Apr;85(4):509–520. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1990.tb01671.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Maisto S. A., O'Farrell T. J., McKay J. R., Connors G. J., Pelcovits M. Alcoholic and spouse concordance on attributions about relapse to drinking. J Subst Abuse Treat. 1988;5(3):179–181. doi: 10.1016/0740-5472(88)90007-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. McKay J. R., O'Farrell T. J., Maisto S. A., Connors G. J., Funder D. C. Biases in relapse attributions made by alcoholics and their wives. Addict Behav. 1989;14(5):513–522. doi: 10.1016/0306-4603(89)90071-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Natera G., Herrejón M. E., Casco M. Locus of control in couples with different patterns of alcohol consumption. Drug Alcohol Depend. 1988 Dec;22(3):179–186. doi: 10.1016/0376-8716(88)90016-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. O'Farrell T. J., Kleinke C. L., Thompson D. L. Differences between alcoholic couples accepting and rejecting an offer of outpatient marital therapy. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 1986;12(3):285–294. doi: 10.3109/00952998609007398. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Orford J. Alcoholism and marriage: the argument against specialism. J Stud Alcohol. 1975 Nov;36(11):1537–1563. doi: 10.15288/jsa.1975.36.1537. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Orford J., Guthrie S., Nicholls P., Oppenheimer E., Egert S., Hensman C. Self-reported coping behavior of wives of alcoholics and its association with drinking outcome. J Stud Alcohol. 1975 Sep;36(9):1254–1267. doi: 10.15288/jsa.1975.36.1254. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Orford J., Oppenheimer E., Egert S., Hensman C., Guthrie S. The cohesiveness of alcoholism-complicated marriages and its influence on treatment outcome. Br J Psychiatry. 1976 Apr;128:318–339. doi: 10.1192/bjp.128.4.318. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Pérodeau G. M., Kohn P. M. Sex differences in the marital functioning of treated alcoholics. Drug Alcohol Depend. 1989 Jan;23(1):1–11. doi: 10.1016/0376-8716(89)90027-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Rae J. B. The influence of the wives on the treatment outcome of alcoholics: a follow-up study at two years. Br J Psychiatry. 1972 Jun;120(559):601–613. doi: 10.1192/bjp.120.559.601. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Rychtarik R. G., Tarnowski K. J., St Lawrence J. S. Impact of social desirability response sets on the self-report of marital adjustment in alcoholics. J Stud Alcohol. 1989 Jan;50(1):24–29. doi: 10.15288/jsa.1989.50.24. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Schuerger J. M., Reigle N. Personality and biographic data that characterize men who abuse their wives. J Clin Psychol. 1988 Jan;44(1):75–81. doi: 10.1002/1097-4679(198801)44:1<75::aid-jclp2270440116>3.0.co;2-c. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Scott P. D. Battered wives. Br J Psychiatry. 1974 Nov;125:433–441. doi: 10.1192/bjp.125.5.433. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Indian Journal of Psychiatry are provided here courtesy of Wolters Kluwer -- Medknow Publications

RESOURCES