COPING STRATEGIES AND CONTINUED DRUG-USE AMONG METHADONE-MAINTENANCE PATIENTS

Drug addiction has been conceived as a maladaptive means of coping uti lized by individuals unable or unwilling to deal with stresses in more adaptive ways. Although a growing body of evidence supports the link between alcohol abuse and maladaptive coping styles, there is relative ly little empirical support for the connection between maladaptive cop ing and other kinds of drug use. The present study employed a cross-se ctional design to assess coping and drug use in a sample of 276 methad one maintenance patients. Structural equation modeling was used to ass ess the factor structure of the coping measure and the relationship be tween coping and unauthorized drug use. The results suggest that copin g and drug use are related in this population and that this relationsh ip is different for Black patients than for White patients.