Degree of sobriety in male alcoholics and coping styles used by their wives.

The 'Coping With Drinking' questionnaire, administered to 124 A1-anon members, was factor analyzed and revealed nine identifiable styles of coping. Multiple regression analyses between three measures of sobriety and each of the nine styles of coping factors provide support for the general hypothesis that the coping styles used by wives of alcoholics are related to drinking outcome. Further, those modes of coping in which the wife communicates her feelings of distress and frustration to the drinking husband in a way which is minimally threatening for him seem to be most positively related to his attainment of sobriety.