Characterizing the Role of Avoidant Coping in the Development of Drinking to Cope with Negative Emotions

Abstract

The present study integrates coping research into a current model of alcohol use disorders etiology, with the goal of better articulating the development of alcohol use disorders. Research has shown that an emotional and impulsive temperament may predispose a person to later risky drinking, and further that much of this risk is due to an increased likelihood of learning that alcohol is an effective means of reducing negative emotions (termed coping expectancies). The Acquired Preparedness (AP; Anderson & Smith, 2001) model formalizes this idea into a testable mediational model; however, the mechanisms which connect personality to the development of coping expectancies is not well-understood. Aim 1 of the was to extend the AP model to include coping constructs, particularly avoidant coping, providing an important test of the longitudinal mechanisms by which early-appearing temperament characteristics convey risk for outcomes in adulthood. Aim 2 of the current dissertation was to understand the relations of avoidant coping to the development of coping expectancies. I hypothesized that 1) avoidant coping would predict coping expectancies, and that avoidant coping would be preceded by emotionality and impulsivity. I further hypothesized that 2) avoidant coping would predict trajectories of coping expectancies, and 3) individuals who have the most opportunities to learn the affect regulation function of alcohol – through their own drinking and through seeing peers drink – will have the strongest link between avoidant coping and coping expectancies. I tested these hypotheses in a large longitudinal dataset (n=454) following adolescents from age 13 into their 30s. The Adult and Family Development Project (AFDP, PI: Chassin) was a comprehensive longitudinal evaluation of individual, contextual, and familial factors related to the development of alcohol use and beliefs. Approximately half of the children in the sample lived with a parent with a history of alcohol use disorder at the time of the first assessment. In Aim 1 analyses, I did not find support for hypothesis 1. Although I found mixed evidence for emotionality and impulsivity predicting avoidant coping, avoidant coping was unrelated to later coping expectancies. In Aim 2 analyses, I found mixed support for hypothesis 2; avoidant coping predicted levels of coping expectancies, but not growth. In Aim 3 analyses, I did not find evidence for moderation of the avoidant coping-coping expectancy relation by peer use or age at first drink. However, peer use was a strong predictor of overall coping expectancies. In sum, avoidant coping was related to personality and to coping expectancies, but did not exhibit a mediated effect in direct tests of the extended AP model. Implications for the role of coping in the etiology of alcohol use disorders are discussed.