ON FIGHTING VERSUS ACCEPTING STRESSFUL CIRCUMSTANCES - PRIMARY AND SECONDARY CONTROL AMONG HIV-POSITIVE MEN IN PRISON

The primacy of primary control over secondary control and ethnic diffe rences in control processes were tested in HIV-positive male state pri son inmates. They rated their perceptions of control and psychological distress at an initial interview (N = 95) and 3 months later (N = 78) . Regression analyses revealed that primary control had primacy as it had greater adaptive value. However, secondary control did not functio n as a backup to primary control, and temporal differences in control were not found. No mean differences due to ethnicity (African American vs. White) were found, but there was a strong ethnic difference in th e effects of primary control. White participants showed the expected n egative relationship between distress and primary control, but African American participants did not. The idea that the benefits of primary control would be the same across various subcultures was not supported .