title: On fighting versus accepting stressful circumstances: primary and secondary control among HIV-positive men in prison.
abstract: The primacy of primary control over secondary control and ethnic differences in control processes were tested in HIV-positive male state prison 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 function 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 the effects of primary control. White participants showed the expected negative 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Pomona College, Claremont Graduate School, California 91711, USA.
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Newcomb
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hunt
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D010356:Patient Isolation; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D012803:Sick Role; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology