ite-sex confederate in a series of videotaped roleplays, which were either unstructured or structured via discussion topics and acquaintance instructions.
The videotapes were coded for (1) global or general impression ratings of subject and (2) four behavioral components of interpersonal skill: talk, gaze, smile and self- manipulation. Subjects also rated their own skill and anxiety during the roleplays.
Findings of the study indicated that male and female children of alcoholics were more anxious when interacting with an opposite-sex partner than with a same- sex partner. Children of divorce and controls were not influenced by the gender of their interaction partner.
Children of alcoholics were also observed to be less socially skilled then children of divorce. There was some suggestion that children of alcoholics and divorce may not accurately perceive their own level of skill.
It was concluded that findings provided some support for interpersonal skills deficits among adult child
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