Intrapsychic features of Adult Children of Alcoholics: A comparative study of differences between alcoholic and nonalcoholic Adult Children of Alcoholics.
Item
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Title
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Intrapsychic features of Adult Children of Alcoholics: A comparative study of differences between alcoholic and nonalcoholic Adult Children of Alcoholics.
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Identifier
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AAI8915578
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identifier
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8915578
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Creator
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Carlson, Stephanie.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Vera S. Paster
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Date
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1988
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical | Psychology, Developmental | Psychology, Personality
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Abstract
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The study sought to identify differences between the intrapsychic features of alcoholic female adult children of alcoholics (ACOA's) and non-alcoholic female ACOA's. Eighteen variables were investigated as possible discriminatory factors. The variables investigated were as follows: affectionate, ambitious, benevolent, cold-warm, constructive involvement, intellectual, judgemental, negative-positive ideal, nurturant, punitive, successful, weak-strong, ambivalence, length of description, conceptual level, self-criticism, dependency, and efficacy.;It was hypothesized that (1) alcoholic ACOA's in comparison to non-alcoholic ACOA's, would have an object world that is harsh and punitive with accompanying self-schemata characterized by a greater experience of (a) dependency on others, (b) greater self-criticism, (c) a poorer sense of their won efficacy; (2) alcoholic ACOA's in comparison to non-alcoholic ACOA's will function on a more concrete, less well developed conceptual level.;20 alcoholic female ACOA's and 21 non-alcoholic female ACOA's were matched for age and administered a total of five tests: (1) The Children of Alcoholics Screening Test to screen for the ACOA status of respondents, (2) The Michigan Alcoholic Screening Test-Revised to discriminate between alcoholic and non-alcoholic respondents, (3) a background and demographic data form, (4) The Depressive Experiences Questionnaire to measure amount of (a) dependency on others, (b) self-criticism, (c) sense of efficacy, (5) The Assessment of Qualitative and Structural Dimensions of Object Representation to discriminate differences in respondents' intrapsychic representations of (a) self, (b) mother, (c) father, (d) parents. Blind independent raters were employed to rate the data obtained. The resulting scores were submitted to a series of t-test analyses to test the two hypotheses.;The results indicated that the non-alcoholic female ACOA's self representations were characterized by a significantly greater experience of dependency on others while no significant differences were found in the degree of self-criticism or sense of efficacy. There were no significant differences in conceptual level. Among the other variables tested, non-alcoholic female ACOA's were significantly different than alcoholic female ACOA's in that their self representations are characterized by a greater degree of affection and benevolence. There were no significant differences in parental representations. These findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to current concepts of co-dependency and search for psychological markers for alcoholism and protective factors against alcoholism.;Additional t-test contrasts of a total sample of 64 respondents include alcoholic male ACOA's with alcoholic female ACOA's and non-alcoholic female ACOA's with a non-alcoholic, non-ACOA female reference group.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
