Adolescent coping strategies and onset of substance use
Date
2010-05
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Adolescents use coping strategies, some beneficial and others harmful, to
deal with stress and adversity. This paper will address topics related to coping
strategies and the onset of substance abuse. Research questions examined relate
to gender differences in coping strategies, as well as to whether or not coping
strategies are related to the onset of substance use. Planning, emotional social
support, denial, and religious coping will be examined as separate dependent
variables. Independent variables are the onset of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana
use.
For this study, data were drawn from The Adolescent Adjustment Project
(AAP), a project directed by Dr. Christine Ohannessian at the University of
Delaware. Students enrolled in public high schools in Delaware, Maryland, and
Pennsylvania, totaling 905 sophomores and juniors ranging in age from age 15 to
17, completed a self‐report questionnaire. Forty‐six percent of the participants
were boys, while 54% were girls (Ohannessian, 2009). ANOVA results for
religious coping were significant when tested with onset of alcohol (for boys and
girls) and marijuana (for boys). Results of this study suggest that identifying
relationships between coping styles and substance use may help identify effective
and healthy coping strategies to forestall the onset of substance use.