Coping resources of African-American and white patients hospitalized for bipolar disorder

Forty-two African-American and 80 white patients hospitalized for bipolar disorder completed the Coping Resources Inventory. Total resource scores of the African Americans were significantly higher than scores of the whites, although differences in background variables between the two groups were not evident. The African-American group also scored significantly higher than the whites on the three scales indicating internal resources-cognitive, emotional, and spiritual-philosophical. No statistically significant differences were found for the two groups on the social and physical scales. Cultural orientations influencing personal life philosophies may explain the differences between the African-American and white patients on perceptions of their coping resources.