Coping and appraisal in potential relapse situations among adolescent substance abusers following treatment

Abstract

The present study investigates coping in high risk for relapse situations of 50 teen substance abusers. Coping responses were elicited for both a self‐generated and a hypothetical high risk for relapse situation. Based on Marlatt's cognitive behavioral model of relapse, we predicted that abstainers and relapsers would have similar responses for self‐generated situations in which they all abstained, while relapsers would appraise the hypothetical relapse situation as more stressful and endorse fewer coping strategies than abstainers. The results largely confirmed predictions, showing no coping differences among outcome groups for successful abstinence situations, while abstainers and minor relapsers endorsed more problem‐focused coping strategies than major relapsers for hypothetical high risk situations.