On fighting versus accepting stressful circumstances: primary and secondary control among HIV-positive men in prison

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.