[acb-hsp] Abusive Drinking in Young Adults

[J.Rayl]

Abusive Drinking in Young Adults: Personality Type and Family Role as Moderators

of Family-of-origin Influences

by Judith L. Fischer , Richard S. Wampler

The fact that society is surprised when a "resilient" child emerges from a dysfunctional

family reflects our limited understanding of the power of role assignments and the

enduring quality of personality type, forces that interact with the influences of

dysfunctional families to alter outcomes (Tarter, 1988). The important question in

studies of family socialization may not be the general one, "What is the impact of

family functioning on offspring?" but rather, "Which children are more influenced

by the family of origin and what are these effects?" This study is an example of

research developed in a particular area that has been guided by this latter, more

specific question.

There are various ways to conceptualize family roles (Sarbin & Allen, 1968), but

for purposes of this study the conceptualization of roles comes from the literature

on children of alcoholics (Black, 1981; Wegscheider, 1981): hero, mascot, lost child,

and scapegoat. Widely accepted in the self-help, 12-step community, these role descriptions

of children of alcoholics have generated little research until recently (Potter &

Williams, 1991), although researchers have used related terms for similar concepts

(e.g., Burk & Sher, 1988; Werner, 1986).

West and Prinz's (1987) and von Knorring's (1991) recent reviews of research on children

of alcoholics described parental alcoholism as disruptive to families; however, von

Knorring concluded that "the nature of the link between children's specific outcome

and parental alcoholism is more vague" (p. 417). In a more general context, Baron

and Kenny (1986) noted that moderator variables may be important when there are weak

or inconsistent associations between predictor and criterion variables. Thus, a better

understanding of child outcomes may be possible if the child's role in the family

and the child's personality type (Rogosch, Chassin, & Sher, 1990) are examined as

moderators of the impact of family alcoholism.

Conflicting findings reported in studies of children of alcoholics (described by

Stacy, Newcomb, & Bentler, 1991) may be attributed to the failure to assess moderating

variables such as family role and individual personality type of the sample. For

example, more scapegoats and lost children would be expected in a prison sample of

children of alcoholics whereas more heroes would be expected among employees of an

engineering department of a large corporation (cf. Werner & Broida, 1991). Similar

analyses could be made of children of chronically depressed parents (Downey & Coyne,

1990) or children from other problematic backgrounds.

An implication from the children of alcoholics literature is that a family with alcoholism

is also a family that is dysfunctional. The overall pattern of addictions in the

family is related to family dysfunction (Wampler, Fischer, Thomas, & Lyness, 1993),

and both are related to negative offspring outcomes. However, not all dysfunctional

families also have alcoholic parents. In contrast, Wright and Heppner (1993) found

that parental alcoholism and family dysfunction constituted separate dimensions.

Offspring from alcoholic and nonalcoholic families reported a wide range of family

functioning, and parental alcoholism and family dysfunction were responded to differently.

These studies underscore the importance of examining both addictions and dysfunctions

in the family of origin.

FAMILY ROLES AND INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY TYPE

ROLES

The agents of the family system direct the assignment of roles in a family to ensure

its continued operation (Scarr & Grajek, 1982). Dysfunctional families are viewed

as assigning roles to children without regard to the child's needs or characteristics

(Black, 1981) or the cost to the child. Even when a child plays a "positive" role,

a negative price is often exacted (Wegscheider, 1981). For example, the hero must

continue to be "good" at the cost of high anxiety and compulsiveness (Fischer, Spann,

& Crawford, 1991).

The negative consequences of role enactment in some areas may be counterbalanced

by the role's protective or buffering function in other areas. Recently, Fischer,

Wampler, Lyness, and Thomas (1992) reported that high

codependency

 had moderating effects, protecting respondents from a negative family of origin

(as measured by variables of family dysfunction and number of addictions in the family).

In contrast, low

codependency was associated with heightened vulnerability to the family of origin,

reflected in greater drinking and risk taking.

The present study extends this research by examining a range of roles that can diminish

or heighten the impact of a dysfunctional family on a young adult's alcohol abuse

outcome. Positive roles are considered to be hero, identified by overachievement,

and mascot, characterized by clowning and high levels of activity. Negative roles

are lost child, defined by shyness and invisibility, and scapegoat, associated with

acting out and delinquency (Wegscheider, 1981). It is predicted that positive roles

(hero or mascot) would diminish or buffer the effects of a dysfunctional family of

origin, but that negative roles (lost child or scapegoat) would heighten the effects

of dysfunction in the family of origin.

PERSONALITY TYPE

Temperament refers to enduring characteristics of person whose manifestations are

influenced by environmental factors (Tarter, Alterman, & Edwards, 1985). By young

adulthood, temperament is expressed in personality (Prior, 1992). The term temperament

is generally used in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) literature. Although

the MBTI may measure temperament, it does measure personality type. The term personality

type is used in this study to remain consistent with more general definitions in

the temperament and personality literatures. The MBTI (Myers, 1962) was selected

to assess personality type, and the Keirsey and Bates (1984) approach was used to

assign participants to four personality type categories.

The Myers-Briggs yields four dimensions: Extraversion-Introversion (sociability and

externally directed versus individuality and internally directed, E-I), Sensing-Intuitive

(using sensory information versus using intuitively-derived information, S-N), Thinking-Feeling

(basing decisions on objective, rational thinking versus basing decisions on the

expression of internalized values, T-F), and Judging-Perceiving (preferring things

settled and decided versus preferring spontaneity and delay in decisions, J-P). It

is possible to construct 16 different personality types (ESTJ, INFP, etc.) using

the MBTI. In practice, the system of Keirsey and Bates (1984) that identifies four

personality types has proven useful. The four Keirsey-Bates types are: SP (freedom),

SJ (duty), NT (competence), and NF (growth). SP (the combination of Sensing and Perceiving)

personalities are particularly concerned with freedom and spontaneity of action and

see action as an end in itself. They are impulsive and easily bored with the status

quo. SJ (the combination of Sensing and Judging) personalities are particularly concerned

with duty and being useful. They dislike change and spontaneous actions, and they

value belonging and serving others. NT (the combination of Intuiting and Thinking)

personalities are particularly interested in competence--the power to control nature,

intelligence and knowledge, and developing abilities are all valued. They tend to

be very self-critical, perfectionistic, and serious-minded. NF (the combination of

Intuiting and Feeling) personalities are particularly concerned with personal growth

and development, with moving toward "becoming" and searching for meaning and self-realization.

They value self-realization in others as well and seek intensity and intimacy in

relationships.

These personality types are not opposites--SP is not the opposite of SJ or NF or

NT--instead, they represent differences just as hero is a different, but not opposite,

role from mascot or lost child. Unlike the roles, there is no single continuous scale

on which a personality type such as SP is determined.

The overall hypothesis predicts buffering or vulnerability to abusive drinking depending

upon personality type. Specifically, it is predicted that young adults who act based

on personality types oriented toward preservation of the family and toward personal

growth (SJ and NF) are more likely to be protected from a dysfunctional family of

origin and a family history of addictions than those young adults who act from a

more perfectionistic, competitive personality type (NT). Children who act based on

the desire to be useful and responsible (SJ) should be protected by their socially

responsible behavior. Among NFs, seeking self-realization could propel a person outside

the orbit of the family and, hence, provide protection. With respect to SPs, it may

be that an orientation toward freedom would send the young adult away from the family

of origin; hence, an SP personality type would act as a buffer. With respect to NTs

from dysfunctional families, those valuing competence and perfection would likely

be in conflict with traditional hierarchical family arrangements wherein power is

located in the parent subsystem. In order to make the family function better, NT

children may try to usurp parental power for themselves; such attentiveness to family-of-origin

dynamics would heighten the negative effects of a dysfunctional family of origin.

There is some evidence that gender may play a part in role enactment (Brisbane, 1989),

and gender may be related to personality type (Keirsey & Bates, 1984). Therefore,

analyses testing hypotheses were conducted separately for men and women.

METHODS

PARTICIPANTS

Participants were 674 college students (507 women and 167 men) enrolled at a large

Southwestern university. Some classes offered extra class credit for filling out

the questionnaires. The classes used to recruit volunteers were predominately those

that fulfilled university core requirements and thus enrolled students from all majors.

Because the department offers a minor in substance abuse studies, a large number

of self-identified recovering students were represented in the sample. Thus, there

is a wider range of levels of alcohol use and, possibly, there are more dysfunctional

families of origin than typical of college samples. Attenuation of range is one barrier

to demonstrating associations between variables, and a sample with a wider range

of responses alleviates such concerns. On the other hand, outliers may influence

outcomes in unpredictable ways. Two women and one man had outlier scores on one of

the variables (number of family addictions) and were eliminated from the analyses,

resulting in a final sample size of 671.

Participants answered questionnaires in their classrooms, using a coded number for

identification. Although the results were not strictly anonymous, they were confidential.

Students were provided with individual written descriptive feedback generated by

computer as well as an in-class presentation (via videotape) of the meaning of the

measures and responses. For this study, data were used from those participants aged

22 or younger because of the interest in the family of origin. The mean age was 19.90,

with a standard deviation of 1.08 and with a range from 17 to 22. The students were

predominately Anglo-American (87%) and self-defined as Protestant/Christian (84%).

MEASURES

In the study design, there were three sets of variables: (a) family-of-origin measures,

constituting the independent variables, (b) roles and personality type, the moderating

variables, and (c) offspring drinking, the dependent variable.

Independent variables: family of origin measures. There were two measures of family

of origin: (a) the 12-item General Family Functioning (GFF) scale of the Family Assessment

Device or FAD (Epstein, Baldwin, & Bishop, 1983) and (b) the number of addictions

in the family of origin (see Fischer et al., 1992; Wampler et al., 1993). For the

number of addictions measure, respondents filled out a grid that listed addictions

across the top and family members along the side. Excluding the respondents' own

addictions, the number of addictions across all extended family members constituted

the measure of number of family addictions. Number of addictions in the family of

origin is a broader measure than the more usual assessment of alcoholism in a parent

(Fischer et al., 1992; Wampler et al., 1993). This measure assesses impact of more

than one type of addiction in the nuclear and extended family.

It can be argued that number of addictions should be adjusted for family size. Such

an approach assumes that percentage of addictions in a family is important; that

is, five addictions in a family of five (100%) should carry more weight than five

addictions in a family of 10 (50%). The view taken here is that the number of addictions

is important regardless of family size, that is, five addictions would have a similar

impact whether there are five family members or 10. As yet, there are no empirical

findings to settle the issue.

The Family Assessment Device (FAD) derives from the McMaster model which assumes

that families function to provide for the development and maintenance of family members

(Epstein et al., 1983). Of the seven scales which comprise the FAD, the General Family

Functioning (GFF) scale is the most reliable and has the greatest evidence of external

validity in discriminating clinical from nonclinical families and predicting marital

satisfaction (Miller, Epstein, Bishop, & Keitner, 1985). Validity data discriminating

nonclinical from clinical families included late adolescents (comparable in age to

the participants in this study) as well as parents (Kabacoff, Miller, Bishop, Epstein,

& Keitner, 1990). The 12 items referring to the functioning of the family of origin

were answered using a 5-point Likert type scale. Sample items on the GFF scale include

"There are lots of bad feelings in the family," and "We [family members] feel accepted

for what we are." The scale is scored so that high scores indicate more dysfunction.

Cronbach's alpha for the GFF scale was .92 in this study.

Consistent with the idea that family addictions and family dysfunction represent

distinct, but possibly overlapping constructs, the correlations between the two measures

were significant but moderate (r = .30 for women, and r = .28 for men). The number

of addictions measure casts a wide net in asking about nuclear and extended family

addictions, whereas the general family functioning scale narrows the focus to the

nuclear family of origin only.

Moderating variable: roles. Role enactment was assessed by responses to the Children's

Role Inventory (CRI; Potter & Williams, 1991). The CRI contains 60 one-word descriptions

answered by a Likert-type scale with 15 items pertaining to each of the four roles

of hero, mascot, lost child, and scapegoat. Potter and Williams report evidence for

reliability and construct, convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. Participants

were asked to respond to the CRI items with regard to their role in the family at

age 16. The instructions were intended to capture how the person saw himself/herself

when living in the family of origin, generally only 3 to 4 years prior to the study.

For the present sample, Cronbach's alphas ranged from .86 to .91 for the four role

scales.

The role a child plays was determined by using the highest score category method.

This approach used the highest scale score on the four subscales of the CRI as the

basis for assigning the participant to a role category. It captures the role identity

that is strongest for the respondent and reflects the children of alcoholics literature

that describes family members in terms of the most salient role attached to that

family member. Tied scores resulted in a two-fold description; however, in this sample

only two kinds of tied scores appeared--hero/mascot and mascot/scapegoat. Neither

category provided sufficient numbers of participants for analyses. Using the highest

score category method, heroes and mascots predominated over lost children and scapegoats

by an 8 to 1 margin. Because of these unequal distributions, lost children and scapegoats

were combined into one category, lost child/scapegoat. Although these two roles were

statistically unrelated and contained different role contents, both were categorized

as "negative" roles.

Two questions concerning the measurement of roles should be addressed. First, to

what extent are the roles defined in the children of alcoholics literature representative

of roles in general? Other research examining character roles (e.g., comedian, hero,

villain, fool, opinion giver, director; Sarbin & Allen, 1968) shows considerable

overlap with role descriptions from the self-help literature and the CRI. Second,

to what extent are these character roles unique to dysfunctional families? These

roles exist in all families (Potter & Williams, 1991); however, dysfunctional families

are more likely to impose or force a role on a child and reinforce staying in that

imposed role more stringently regardless of the child's actual inclination or personality

type (Hoopes & Harper, 1987).

Moderating variable: personality type. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator(Myers, 1962)

is a 126-item questionnaire that assesses four bipolar dimensions of personality.

Used in this study are the four personality types made up of combinations of these

dimensions: SP (freedom), SJ (duty), NT (competence), and NF (growth) (Keirsey &

Bates, 1984). Recent reviews (Carlson, 1985, 1989) have pointed to the reliability

and validity of the MBTI across a wide range of studies. Carlson concluded his 1989

review by writing, "The MBTI may lend itself more to the study of potentially useful

dichotomies for the clinician and counselor than many other instruments owing to

its breadth and its founding in a general theory" (p. 486). Research also supports

the validity of using the four personality types based on MBTI scores (Delunas, 1983;

Woodbury, 1991). Woodbury's (1991) study confirmed that respondents categorized by

personality type endorsed the core values associated with their personality type

as described by Keirsey and Bates (1984).

Dependent variable: Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (SMAST). Alcohol is the overwhelming

drug of choice among adolescents and young adults (Johnston, O'Malley, & Bachman,

1987), and abusive drinking is a relevant and important problem behavior for these

age groups. The short form of the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test or SMAST (Selzer,

Vinokur, & van Rooijen, 1975) is a 13-item indicator of alcohol abuse that identifies

both active and recovering users.

Both SMAST and number of family addictions scores were skewed in that the majority

of participants scored a 0 or 1 on the SMAST and reported few or no relatives with

addictions. For this of study, the definitions used by Selzer et al. (1975) were

adopted. Possible abusive drinking was defined operationally as a score of 2 and

probable abusive drinking was defined operationally as a score of 3 or greater on

the SMAST. Among women, 21% scored as possible or probable abusive drinkers, and

among men, 42% scored as possible or probable abusive drinkers. No relatives with

addictions were reported by 27% of women and 4% of men; one relative with addictions

was reported by 16% of women and 14% of men. Fifty-six percent of women and 52% of

men identified two or more family members with addictions. Ten percent of each gender

identified seven or more such relatives. To provide a common metric across all the

analyses, all the continuous variables (SMAST, family addictions, family dysfunction)

were converted to z scores with means of 0 and standard deviations of 1. Missing

data altered the sample sizes from those given.

ANALYTICAL STRATEGIES

Baron and Kenny (1986) identified four ways to test for moderating effects with choice

of method depending upon the level of measurement (continuous or categorical) of

the independent, moderating, and dependent variables. This study uses the method

for continuous independent and continuous dependent variables with categorical moderating

variables. In this approach, regression equations are calculated with SMAST regressed

on family addictions and family dysfunctions. The equations are calculated under

three role conditions--hero, mascot, and lost child/scapegoat-and under four personality

types--SP, SJ, NT, NF. Support for the hypothesized moderating effects of role would

be seen if comparisons of unstandardized regression coefficients (B) were significantly

different (Baron & Kenny, 1986), as predicted--that is, if unstandardized regression

coefficients for heroes and mascots are significantly less than the unstandardized

regression coefficients for lost children/scapegoats. If the results follow predictions,

then heroes and mascots would be described as buffered from and lost children/scapegoats

as vulnerable to the impact of the family of origin. Support for the personality

type moderating hypothesis would be seen if comparisons of unstandardized regression

coefficients were significantly less for SP, SJ and NF personality type groups than

for those in the NT personality type group. These analyses expect lower explained

variance (R sup 2 ) in the buffering condition and higher explained variance in the

vulnerability condition.

RESULTS

PRELIMINARY ANALYSES

Six issues were examined. The first issue was whether family roles and personality

types were distributed differently by gender. A roles by gender chi-square and a

personality type by gender chi-square were tested with significant findings in both

analyses (x sup 2 = 23.88, p < .001; x sup 2 = 91.55, p < .001, respectively). Across

CRI roles proportionately more women than men were heroes (55% vs. 34%): more men

than women were mascots (40% us. 34%) or lost children/scapegoats (17% vs. 7%). Across

personality types proportionately more women than men were SJs (56% vs. 36%) and

NFs (26% vs. 12%); more men than women were SPs (23% vs. 12%) and NTs (29% vs. 6%).

Given the differential distribution of both roles and personality types, separate

analyses by gender were conducted.

The second issue concerned the intercorrelations among role variables. Table 1 presents,

separately by gender, the intercorrelations among family-of-origin dysfunction (GFF

and number of family addictions), role in family, and offspring alcohol abuse variables,

along with the raw score mean and standard deviation for each variable. (Table 1

omitted) Positive roles (hero and mascot) were significantly positively correlated.

Negative roles (scapegoat and lost child) were not significantly related to each

other; instead, each negative role was strongly and negatively correlated with one

positive role (i.e., lost child with mascot and hero with scapegoat).

The third issue examined for multicollinearity between roles and family-of-origin

variables. Positive roles were significantly negatively correlated with greater family

dysfunction (Table 1), while negative roles were significantly positively correlated

with family dysfunction. More dysfunctional families may force more rigid and more

negative role enactments on their children. The small percentage of variance shared

by roles and family-of-origin dysfunction scales limits concern about excessive multicollinearity.

The fourth concern centered around issues of possible multicollinearity among the

family of origin variables. For both men and women, number of family addictions and

family dysfunction were moderately correlated (Table 1). With less than 9% of the

variance in common for these two variables, concerns about multicollinearity proved

minimal.

The fifth issue examined whether family-of-origin measures were associated with different

personality types. One-way analyses of variance were used to compare family-of-origin

variables across the four Keirsey-Bates personality types. There were no associations

of personality type with family-of-origin variables (all Fs were nonsignificant).

Within the limits of measurement in this study, the findings suggest that personality

type is relatively independent of family of origin influences, but that role allocation

and enactment are influenced by the functioning of the family of origin.

The sixth issue examined the issue of variability in SMAST scores such that buffering

effects reflected buffering and not simply a lack of variability in the dependent

variable within a group. Within gender and within roles and personality types, means,

standard deviations, ranges, and percentage of possible and probable abusive drinkers

were examined (Table 2). ( Table 2 omitted) One-way analyses of variance tested for

homogeneity of variance; chi-square tests evaluated the distribution of abusive versus

nonabusive drinkers across roles and personality types. Where potential restrictions

of variability were identified, the entire set of values and the tables of results

were examined.

Among women's roles, the percentage of abusive drinkers varied significantly by role

(Table 2), yet the role with the lowest percentage of possible and probable abusive

drinkers and the least variance (the hero role) had a range of scores on SMAST equivalent

to the other groups and a significant path from the independent to the dependent

variable, suggesting that restriction of range was not a factor in the results. (Table

2 omitted) Among women's personality types, one type (NT) had a low range and smaller

variance, but that same group had the highest percentage of abusive drinkers.

Among men's roles there were no vulnerabilities evident with respect to the range

of SMAST scores (Table 2). Among men's personality types, one group (SP) had lower

range and variability; however, 39% of the SP men were identified as possible and

probable abusive drinkers. In addition, although none of the personality type groups

among men had significant paths, the magnitude of the path from family dysfunction

to SMAST in the SP group was the highest of the four personality types. It is concluded

that the findings are not due to restriction of variability among roles or personality

types in the sample.

ROLE AS A MODERATOR BETWEEN FAMILY OF ORIGIN AND ABUSIVE DRINKING

Separately for men and women, three different regressions were run: regressions of

SMAST on family-of-origin variables within the hero, mascot, and combined lost child/scapegoat

roles. Table 3 presents the findings from these regression analyses. (Table 3 omitted)

The hypothesis predicted that the hero and mascot roles would buffer whereas the

lost child/scapegoat role would augment vulnerability to abusive drinking. Among

women, there was buffering by the hero role compared with the lost child/scapegoat

role (as found by a test of the significance of the difference among unstandardized

regression coefficients with p set at .05). The hero role buffered young women from

effects of both family dysfunction and number of family addictions. Among women,

the mascot role was neither buffer to nor augmenter of family-of-origin effects on

offspring abusive drinking as determined by the test of difference of regression

coefficients.

Among men, the hypothesized buffering of the hero and mascot roles compared to the

lost child/scapegoat role was found for the association between family dysfunction

and SMAST. Although the hero versus lost child/scapegoat comparison for family addictions

was in the hypothesized direction, the difference was not significant.

PERSONALITY TYPE AS MODERATORS BETWEEN FAMILY OF ORIGIN AND ABUSIVE DRINKING

Table 4 presents the results of the regressions run within the four personality types

for each gender. (Table 4 omitted) It was predicted that family effects would be

nonsignificant for those with SP (freedom), SJ (duty) and NF (growth, self-realization)

personality types, but that family effects on abusive drinking would be significant

for those with NT (competence, perfectionism) personality types. As tested by comparisons

of the unstandardized regression coefficients with p set at .05, among women, SP

(compared with NF) was a buffer of family dysfunction and number of addictions; in

addition, SJ (compared with NF) was a buffer for number of addictions. Contrary to

the hypothesis, NT provided no particular vulnerability to family of origin among

women.

For men, the only significant difference supported the hypothesis: NTs were more

vulnerable to greater numbers of family addictions than NFs. There were no personality

types that moderated the family dysfunction variable among men.

The four personality types drew from the MBTI dimensions of S-N, T-F, and J-P, but

not from the E-I (Extraversion-Introversion) dimension. Previous research suggested

that Extraversion versus Introversion would not be a moderating variable (Tarter,

1988). In order to explore more fully the potential for moderating by this variable,

two regressions (SMAST regressed on family of origin) were run with E and I as the

moderating variables. Comparisons were made of the unstandardized regression coefficients

with p set at .05. Consistent with Tarter's report, there were no significant effects

for E versus I for men or women with respect to family dysfunction and number of

family addictions.

GENDER DIFFERENCES

The significance of differences of unstandardized regression coefficients of men

compared with women were tested within roles and within personality types with p

set at .05. There were no gender differences within roles (e.g., associations of

family of origin with offspring outcome did not differ for male heroes compared to

female heroes) nor within personality types (male SPs were similar to female SPs

in associations of family of origin to outcome).

DISCUSSION

The results supported the hypothesized role of moderating variables and the need

for specificity in describing the impact of the family of origin on late adolescent/young

adult offspring, at least in the area of this research. Men and women who had the

role of hero in their family of origin were buffered against the family of origin

and those who were lost children/scapegoats were more vulnerable to the family of

origin. In addition, men in the mascot role were buffered against family dysfunction

compared with lost children/scapegoats.

Turning to the personality type analyses, men who were NFs (self-realization) were

less vulnerable to greater addictions in the family than men who were NTs (competence/perfectionism),

Women who were SPs (freedom) were buffered from both family dysfunction and family

addictions. Women who were SJs (duty) were also buffered from family addictions.

However, the contrasting group for the female SPs and SJs was not the NT group, as

had been hypothesized, but the NF group.

The different patterns for men and women deserve comment. It should be kept in mind

that direct comparisons of regression coefficients found no significant differences,

although the comparison of male and female NFs approached significance (p =.06).

That the NF group was a buffer for men but contributed to greater vulnerability among

women may reflect different social norms for men and women in regard to self-realization

or self-actualization. Thus, NF men may find it easier to strongly differentiate

from a dysfunctional family, whereas NF women must reach more of an accommodation

with family norms or incorporate more of the family image into the self-image.

In the role analyses, the mascot role was a buffer of family dysfunction for men

but not for women. It may be that women and men who are mascots display different

patterns of behavior; both may be amusing and funny in the family context, but a

male's enactment of the role may have a different meaning for himself and for the

family than a female's enactment of the role. Uses of humor by men and women differ

(Crawford & Gressley, 1991); these uses are differentially related to well-being

(Carroll, 1990), and they may be responded to differently as well by family members.

FAMILY-OF-ORIGIN VARIABLES

Where there were family-of-origin effects on offspring drinking, these were evenly

split between family dysfunction and family addictions. Among women, the effects

of both variables appeared to be buffered by both roles and personality type. Among

men, family role buffered the effect of family dysfunction, whereas personality type

buffered the effect of family addictions, lending support to the inclusion of both

addictions and dysfunction measures of the family of origin. Given that there have

been some studies showing a lack of association between parental drinking and offspring

drinking (Stacy et al., 1941), the robustness of the measure of number of addictions

1 in the family suggests the importance of using a measure of family addiction that

is broader than the more narrow parental drinking measure used in other research.

With respect to the part that family dysfunction plays in offspring outcomes, there

is an important question: Does abusive drinking result from the general emotional

distress of being raised in a dysfunctional family or more from the models provided

by important relatives? While certainly not definitive, the present results indicate

that both aspects of the family of origin influence female offsprings' abusive drinking

within the context of the assignment of a negative role by the family and/or a personality

type that puts the young woman at risk of abusive drinking.

An argument can be made that the direction of causality is reversed. That is, offspring

drinking influences family dysfunction and number of family addictions or at least

perceptions of these. The longitudinal research of Weber, Graham, Hansen, Flay, and

Johnson (1989) supports the hypothesized direction of effects (family to offspring).

Dividing their sample of adolescents into those with relatively good time- 1 parent-child

relations (among other associated constructs) and those with relatively poor relations,

Weber et al. (1989) reported accelerated drinking patterns at time 2 of those with

poor parent-child relations compared to those with good relations. Additional longitudinal

research will help to clarify the direction of effects. However, even longitudinal

studies are limited when a single informant provides all the data. An ideal study

would involve a combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional design (e.g., Schaie,

1965) with multiple sources of data, including multiple informants and observers.

As a practical matter, the undertaking of such a study is built upon the foundation

laid by simpler designs such as the present one.

MODERATING VARIABLES: RESEARCH AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

This research examined the moderating effects of roles and personality types on abusive

drinking in young adults. Recent research has seen the examination of moderating

variables in different forms. The investigations by Hawkins, Catalano, and Miller

(1992), Rogosch et al. (1990), and Stacy et al. (1991) point to the importance of

several moderating variables, such as expectancies about alcohol use. These researchers

have called for future investigations into alternative moderators. For example, peers

as moderators should be taken into account, not simply because a large body of literature

has focused on the topic of peer influences, but because emerging evidence suggests

that addictions in the family interact with peer orientations to predict alcohol

risk (Barnes & Farrell, 1992).

The moderator variable approach to understanding associations among variables appears

to be a promising investigatory tool. As illustrated in the present research, moderating

effects occurred for both roles and personality types. Explained variances for vulnerability

were 25% (women) and 47% (men) for the lost child/scapegoat role, and 16% (women)

for the NF role and 53% (men) for the NT role. Given the associations noted in the

preliminary analyses between family of origin and role allocation and role enactment,

future research may establish a combination model involving both mediating and moderating

variables (Baron & Kenny, 1986).

Clinical implications of the present research suggest that examining a client's role

in the family and a client's personality type may yield insight into the difficulties

that brought the client to therapy. Heroes who present for therapy should be acknowledged

for their exceptional role in keeping the family together and making it look good;

at the same time, this heavy burden may also be reframed as a protector that helped

keep them from other, perhaps more costly, outcomes. Similarly, scapegoats can be

helped to shed a particularly difficult role in exchange for a more benign one. With

respect to personality type, male NTs, those valuing competence and perfection, may

be redirected to focus their energies into other channels, such as acquiring knowledge,

a more benign expression of the NT personality type, or to activities that limit

the impact of the family of origin. Female NFs, those valuing growth and self-realization,

could be helped to find positive sources of identification outside the family.

The limitations of the research, in terms of sampling and approach, merit some discussion.

Although a sample of over 670 participants was employed, the low probability of finding

some personality types (e.g., female NTs comprise only 13% of college prep high school

students; Myers & Myers, 1980) resulted in smaller cell sizes in some personality

types than others. In addition, there were few lost children and scapegoats, suggesting

that children in negative roles do not go to college very often. Sampling outside

of college environments would be appropriate, although it may be that scapegoats

and lost children are rare even in general populations. Respondents were asked to

report in retrospect about their roles in the family of origin at age 16. For most

this was only 3 to 4 years earlier; nevertheless, intervening circumstances may have

altered perceptions and situations. It would be desirable to study younger respondents

still living with the family of origin to carry the research forward more conclusively.

This study and the others that have investigated moderating effects have taken the

approach of examining one offspring in the family. If children are indeed assigned

different roles, or if roles critical to the family (such as scapegoat) have alternative

siblings waiting in the wings (Jean-Gilles & Crittenden, 1990), then important information

would emerge when more than one child per family participates in research (Dunn &

Plomin, 1991).

Future research will be needed to establish the principle of moderating effects more

generally beyond the variables of the present study. This study provided an example

of moderating research, using two family-of-origin measures, two kinds of moderating

variables, and one outcome variable. The findings are limited to the area of abusive

drinking by young college adults and to the measures used in this study. However,

any area of research with inconsistent findings from article to article is ripe for

investigation into moderating effects. It would be important to investigate other

examples of offspring outcomes (e.g., marital success, parenting skills) in order

to expand the understanding of how different children in families are affected by

family-of-origin variables and in what specific ways.

NOTE

The authors thank Joyce Munsch for her helpful comments on an earlier draft of the

paper and Priti Bhatt for her research assistance.

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-1-

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com

Publication Information:

Article Title: Abusive Drinking in Young Adults: Personality Type and Family Role

as Moderators of Family-of-origin Influences. Contributors: Judith L. Fischer - author,

Richard S. Wampler - author. Journal Title: Journal of Marriage and the Family. Volume:

56. Issue: 2. Publication Year: 1994. Page Number: 469+. © 1994 National Council

on Family Relations. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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