n by men. In addition, men and women also hold differential expectations about the effects of drinking. Several studies (i.e. Abrams & Wilson, 1979; Sutker, Allain, Brantly, & Randall, 1982; Wilson & Abrams, 1977) have shown that "although pharmacological effects appear to be similarly stress reducing for both sexes, the belief that alcohol has been consumed may actually increase distress among women" (Cooper et al. , 1992; P. 140). Therefore, it seems plausible that females actually expect to experience some form of distress from drinking as opposed to males' expectation to experience tension reduction from drinking (Rohsenow, 1983).Differential Coping Styles in DrinkingConsiderable evidence has been accumulated in support of the notion that certain methods of coping are more likely to be associated with problem drinking than others (Moos, Finney, & Chan, 1981). This has led to the development of social learning theory which postulates that abusive drinkers differ from relatively healthy drinkers in (a) their capacity to effectively cope with stressors and (b) in their beliefs about drinking (Abrams & Niaura, 1987). In general, two types of coping responses have been shown to predominate in most situations (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980). The first type, problem-focused coping (also known as approach coping), is directed at either solving the presenting problem or altering the source of the stress (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub 1989). The second type, emotion-focused coping (also known as avoidance coping ), attempts to reduce the unpleasant emotional feelings which accompany the stressor (Carver et al. , 1989). Even though people usually use both methods in response to a given stressor, the former type will tend to predominate when people feel that the situation is changeable, whereas the latter type will tend to predominate when people appraise the situation as unchangeable (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980). People who predominantly resort to avoid...
