Coping in adolescent children of HIV-positive and HIV-negative substance-abusing fathers

The authors examined coping in the adolescent children of drug-abusing fathers who have, or are at risk for contracting, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The ability to cope is an important factor in the adolescent's own risk behaviors, including drug use and associated problems. Each father and his adolescent child were separately administered a structured interview regarding personality, drug use, relationships, coping, and other behaviors. Adolescent adaptive coping was found to be related to greater conventionality, less marijuana use, fewer intra- and interpersonal problems, paternal adaptive coping, and a close father-child bond. Moreover, analysis using a risk factor index indicated an exponential increase in adolescent maladaptive coping with each additional psychosocial risk. Implications for policy and intervention are also discussed.