The Adolescent Relapse Coping Questionnaire: psychometric validation

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Addiction Science
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Adolescent substance use and relapse are significant public health concerns.
• Effective coping strategies are crucial for preventing relapse in adolescents with alcohol and other drug use disorders.
• The Adolescent Relapse Coping Questionnaire (ARCQ) was developed to measure these strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the factor structure and psychometric validity of the ARCQ.
• To assess the reliability and construct validity of the ARCQ in a sample of adolescents undergoing treatment.
• To examine the relationship between coping strategies and substance use outcomes.

Main Methods:

• A prospective longitudinal study involving 136 adolescents (79 male) with alcohol and other drug abuse disorders.
• Participants were recruited from inpatient treatment facilities and interviewed at 1-year and 2-year posttreatment.
• The ARCQ was administered as part of the assessment battery.

Main Results:

• Factor analysis identified three coping factors: problem-solving, self-critical cognitions, and abstinence-focused strategies.
• These factors demonstrated good internal consistency (alpha = .78 to .82) and explained 40% of the variance.
• The abstinence-focused coping factor significantly predicted reduced alcohol and drug use post-assessment.

Conclusions:

• The ARCQ is a psychometrically valid instrument for assessing coping mechanisms in adolescents with substance use disorders.
• Findings validate the importance of the temptation-coping construct in adolescent relapse.
• The study highlights distinct relapse patterns between adolescent and adult addictive behaviors.