COPING CAPACITY IN FEMALE ADOLESCENT SUBSTANCE-ABUSERS

Female adolescents who qualified for a DSM-III-R diagnosis of Psychoac tive Substance Use Disorder were not distinguishable from depressed an d conduct disorder subjects on measures of coping but were differentia ble from normal controls. Age of onset of substance use, interval betw een age of first use and age of diagnosis of abuse, and severity of su bstance use involvement did not correlate with coping capacity. These findings indicate that deficient coping is not specifically related to drug abuse but rather, where present, is concomitant to comorbid psyc hopathology among females who have a substance abuse disorder.