Research has long documented the association between social relationships and health; for over 30 years, however, the literature has consistently called attention to the need to explain how social relationships have their effects.
The present research brings a cultural sociology approach to this gap, exploring socialization processes underlying the emergence of coping strategies.
Analysis relies on a qualitative study of Alcoholics Anonymous. Initially, I find that two types of groups, “structured” and “social,” exist and that members of structured groups tend to have higher levels of long-term abstinence.
I then explore underlying processes in the socialization of members of structured groups that might account for this discrepancy.
My research suggests that a key reason for the discrepancy lies in the fact that structured groups transmit a repertoire of problem-focused coping strategies to their members, which are used as resources to moderate the stressors that lead to compulsive drinking.
My research therefore begins to shed light on a significant and long-standing gap in the health and illness literature by explicating underlying processes through which socialization patterns moderating resources in the stress process.
In doing so, it lends additional weight to the growing emphasis on cultural sociology as a means to better specify explanatory mechanisms and suggests the need for a wealth of future research investigating cultural mechanisms underlying the stress process.
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