Research Paper on:
A Study on Coping Mechanisms Found in Children of Alcoholics

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
alcoholics. The article is reviewed not for content but for methodology used by researchers. Bibliography lists 2 sources. SA217alc.rtf In a study, Clair &  Genest (1987) talk about the roles of the moderator variables which were hypothesized to provide insight into the adjustments in children of alcoholics. Moderator variables used were family environment, social  support and coping behaviors and they were assessed retrospectively (1987). Thus, only some things could be gleaned by authors as no true experiment was done. Still, in using psychological testing,  authors were able to support the notion that children of alcoholics describe their homes as more dysfunctional and that they received less guidance than peers who came from families where  no alcoholism existed. Such children more regularly reported as using coping behaviors such as smoking, eating or drinking, but that despite some disadvantages, the children studied were actually functioning quite  well (1987). To achieve these results authors used 30 offspring of alcoholic fathers and nonalcoholic mothers as well as 40 from nonalcoholic parents (Clair & Genest, 1987). The group  was put together in a haphazard fashion. Some were found through advertising and others were found through groups such as AA and Al-Anon (1987). Inclusion criteria included ages 18 through  23, the fact that the father was drinking but the mother was not, and that the father was drinking when the respondent was between the ages of 13 and 18  years (1987). Authors note the limitations of the study in that women were overrepresented and people who were severely maladjusted were not included and subjects were also self-selected (1987).  The latter is highly problematic because there is no definitive answer for whether or not anyone is an alcoholic. Yet, the requirement that included the notion that the father