Effects of anger management and social contact on alcohol and tobacco consumption: a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

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Date
1992
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Massey University
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Relationships between anger management, social contact, and alcohol and tobacco consumption were investigated to examine a number of issues: (1) That anger management and social contact would be correlated to each other and therefore possibly confounded, (2) that anger management and social contact would be independently related to alcohol and tobacco consumption, (3) that anger management and social contact would jointly influence alcohol and tobacco consumption, (4) that anger management, social contact and alcohol and tobacco consumption would vary across age, sex and socioeconomic status, (5) that age, sex and socioeconomic status would moderate the effects of anger management and social contact on alcohol and tobacco consumption, and (6) that alcohol and tobacco consumption would, in conjunction with psychosocial and sociodemographic variables, operate interactively on each other. A secondary analysis was undertaken on a sub-sample of 831 control subjects taken from the general population as a part of the Auckland Heart Study. Analyses revealed that anger discussion was positively correlated with social availability. No other significant correlations were found between anger management and social contact variables. Multiple regression analyses showed no independent effects of anger management and social contact variables on alcohol and tobacco,consumption, but revealed a number of significant interaction effects involving sociodemographic variables. Only one significant interaction effect was found involving both anger management and social contact on either alcohol or tobacco consumption. Analyses revealed that anger management, social contact and alcohol and tobacco consumption varied by age, sex and socioeconomic status. It was concluded that anger management and social contact were not confounded, and were not independently or jointly related to alcohol and tobacco consumption. Results were thus inconsistent with a mediating relationship for smoking and alcohol consumption between psychosocial variables and health outcomes. The number of significant interaction effects was supportive of the value of an interactive approach to health variables. Conceptual and methodological issues are discussed in view of the general lack of support for the research questions and hypotheses.
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Anger -- Psychological aspects, Drinking of alcoholic beverages, Tobacco use
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