ATTRIBUTIONAL STYLE, DEPRESSIVE FEATURES, AND SELF-ESTEEM - ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLIC AND NONALCOHOLIC PARENTS

Undergraduate adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs; N = 57) were compar ed to children of nonalcoholic parents (CONAs; N = 100) on measures of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), self-esteem, and attributional s tyle. ACOA status was determined using the Children of Alcoholics Scre ening Test (Jones, 1981). ACOAs were found to have significantly highe r scores on the BDI and to have significantly lower self-esteem, as me asured by the Index of Self-Esteem, than CONAs. ACOAs were also more l ikely to have a depressive attributional style in that they perceived failure as more internal, stable, and global than CONAs. Further, fema les had significantly higher BDI scores than males.