Age, gender, and alcohol abuse as factors in coping behaviour

Abstract

Stress is ubiquitous in contemporary society, especially in Africa where uncertainty seems to be the most constant paradigm. In order to cope with the challenges, people adopt various behaviours whether adaptive or maladaptive. This study examined age, gender and alcohol abuse as factors in coping behaviour of Nigerian adults. 384 volunteer respondents (209 men and 175 women), age range 18-72 were drawn from three cities in three zones of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The CAGE Questionnaire was used to measure alcohol abuse, while the coping behaviour scale-Short was used to measure coping behaviour. Analysis of variance was used to test the hypotheses that age, gender, and alcohol abuse will be significant factors in coping behaviour. The result indicated that only alcohol abuse was a significant factor in coping behaviour of respondents f(1,376) = 19.88, p<.001). Age and gender interacted significantly with alcohol in coping behaviour. Discussion highlighted alcohol abuse as a harmful behaviour most especially to older persons, and women.