Introduction
Adolescents and children are particularly vulnerable to alcohol and substance addiction because of their psychological and emotional immaturity. The risk factors for alcohol addiction among adolescents and teenagers include underlying mental health issues like childhood trauma, poor familial relationships like abusive parents or poor parental monitoring and environmental factors that regulate accessibility to alcohol and triggers of alcohol craving. For example, children who experience physical or emotional trauma like homelessness, parental neglect or sexual abuse are disproportionately more vulnerable to alcohol addiction when they become teenagers or adolescents. Dysfunctional social relations such as family rejection or association with alcohol-drinking peers also exacerbate the alcohol addiction problem among children and adolescents. Precisely, alcohol addiction among children and adolescents is the compulsive intake of alcohol and the inability to control the intake amounts which is usually associated with the development of negative emotions when alcohol is unavailable. The key characteristics of alcohol addiction among children and adolescents range from neglect o responsibilities to lack of school connectedness, increased tolerance to alcohol and loss of interest in hobbies or social relationships. Children and adolescents display different coping mechanisms for alcohol addiction. Some adolescents resolve to overdose or use of other drugs to help them regulate their emotions while others develop avoidance behaviors to distract themselves from the constant desire to drink. The adolescents may also show adaptive coping strategies like cultivating new friendships and taking up new hobbies. Notably, the different coping mechanisms can be adaptive or maladaptive but they are all adopted by the adolescents to help them deal with the uncontrollable desire for alcohol and stressful situations associated with alcohol addiction. The mechanisms may be conscious or unconscious choices or behaviors that the minor addicts develop gradually to achieve control over the behavior or obtain psychological comfort.
Understanding Coping Mechanisms
Common Coping Mechanisms Observed Alcohol and Drug Addiction Among Children and Adolescents
The common coping mechanisms observed in alcohol addiction among children and adolescents include avoidance behaviors, increased alcohol intake, and social withdrawal or emotional numbing. The adaptive coping mechanism among children and adolescents with alcohol addiction includes cultivating new friendships and venturing into new hobbies to provide positive distraction from the compulsive urge to drink. Grummitt et al. (2023) point out that avoidant coping may be effective in preventing compulsive alcohol use among adolescents and young adults especially adolescents who were exposed to childhood maltreatment. Notably, the avoidant coping mechanisms can be adaptive or maladaptive. For instance, procrastination and passive-aggressiveness are examples of maladaptive avoidant coping mechanisms among children and adolescents experiencing alcohol addiction. However, avoidant coping techniques that help adolescents to acknowledge and experience their emotions like using humor can be beneficial to the adolescents (Simione & Gnagnarrella, 2023). Besides the avoidant coping, children and adolescents with alcohol and substance addiction may turn to excessive drinking due to the increased tolerance to alcohol. This coping strategy involves needing more alcohol in order to alleviate the anxiety and depression related to addiction.
Another maladaptive coping mechanism observed in children and adolescents experiencing alcohol addiction is social isolation or withdrawal. Social withdrawal as a coping mechanism among children and adolescents with addiction is a maladaptive strategy that involves avoiding people or social settings in fear of judgement. To illustrate, children or adolescents experiencing alcohol addiction may experience increased pressure to withdraw from their peers and family members due to the reduced self-esteem or fear of social rejection. The social withdrawal manifests itself in multiple ways like avoiding various activities that the child or adolescent used to enjoy, rejecting invitations to associate with peers and making excuses to be alone or avoiding meeting new people.
Positive coping mechanisms observed in children and adolescents experiencing alcohol and substance addiction mainly involve forming new friendships and cultivating new hobbies. Leisure activities such as active participation in sports, drawing, help adolescents and children with drinking problems avoid triggers by promoting social connectedness and distracting their thoughts. For instance, Santini et al. (2020) report that adolescents’ engagement in various physical activities or hobbies was associated with 49% reduction in binge drinking. Increasing the number of leisure activities is also associated with lower chances of drinking among adolescents. Santini et al.’s (2020) study further reports that participating in four or five activities reduces the chances of alcohol consumption by 46% among adolescents with binge drinking problems. Like hobbies, cultivating new friendships is another positive coping strategy observed among adolescents and children experiencing alcohol and substance addiction. Developing new friendships helps the addiction patients avoid triggers by leveraging the prosocial behaviors they receive from their new friends, thereby reducing the feelings of social exclusion.
Effectiveness and Implications of the Coping Mechanisms
The various coping mechanisms observed in alcohol and substance addiction among children and adolescents vary in terms of their effectiveness. Shafiei et al. (2016) report that the most effective relapse coping strategies among adolescents and young adults are substance-focused coping strategies that incorporate people in the patients’ social cycles like friends and family members for support. Coping strategies that incorporate support of family members or friends such as hobbies are most effective because they help addiction patients deal with the emotional triggers and destructive behaviors that contribute to alcohol and substance abuse (Shafiei et al., 2016). The family members and friends within the patients’ social circle help them create recovery goals and stick to the treatments without relapse. Besides social and familial relationships, effectiveness of the coping mechanisms is also influenced by patients’ coping skills, environmental factors and presence of other comorbid mental health problems like depression and anxiety.
The implication of the coping mechanisms is that adaptive coping strategies like formation of new friendships and cultivating new hobbies alleviate the urge to drink alcohol or use substances and help in alleviating comorbid anxiety and depression. Contrarily, maladaptive coping skills and behaviors like social withdrawal exacerbate drinking and substance abuse addiction by elevating risk factors like anxiety and depression (Liu et al., 2022). The impacts of adaptive and maladaptive coping styles are regulated by the presence or absence of social support (Liu et al., 2022). For instance, maladaptive coping strategies like avoidant coping can be mitigated by strong social support from families and friends while adaptive techniques like hobbies can also be enhanced by support of friends.
Coping Mechanisms and Treatment
Traditional Treatment Methods for Alcohol and Substance Addiction
The conventional treatment methods for alcohol and substance addiction among children and adolescents include behavioral interventions, family therapies, and use of attendance group meetings social connection and alcohol avoidance programs. Family therapies incorporate various evidence-based strategies like functional family therapy which focuses on enhancing the connections between family members (Liu et al.,2022). The therapy works by identifying and mitigating the dysfunctional family relationships that contribute to the alcohol and substance abuse in children and adolescents. Behavioral interventions, on the other hand, work by enhancing the patients’ social and problem-solving skills, refusal skills and leisure-time management to enhance their resistance to emotional, psychological and environmental triggers that lead to binge alcohol consumption (Liu et al.,2022). Attendance of group meetings like group counseling, workbooks, and relapse prevention groups also constitute the traditional forms of treating alcohol and substance addiction in children and adolescents.
Integrating Coping Mechanisms into Treatment
Integrating adaptive coping mechanisms into the treatment of alcohol and substance addiction among children and adolescents can enhance the effectiveness of the treatment methods. Coping mechanisms like hobbies can be integrated into the treatment options like family therapies to encourage the patients to maintain treatment and reduce chances of relapse. A practical way of integrating coping mechanisms into treatment is to link the addiction problem (or the underlying therapeutic issue) with the patient’s passion or area of interest (Maina et al., 2022). For instance, in a group counseling setting, children and adolescents can be encouraged to explore their inner worlds through drawing and writing to distract them from their psychological and environmental triggers. A prime example of a treatment method that integrates coping mechanisms into treatment is the art therapy which taps into the patients’ artistic skills to help them express their emotions (Maina et al., 2022). Art therapy techniques for alcohol and substance addiction in children and adolescents serve as a safe outlet for painful emotions, alleviate the shame of addiction and act as a break from talk-intensive therapies.
However, it is important to consider the potential issues in counseling when integrating coping mechanisms into treatment. For instance, it is important to ensure that the integrated treatment and coping mechanisms directly address the underlying or comorbid mental health concerns like anxiety (Maina et al., 2022). The integrated treatment method should help the patient express themselves and release their emotions without feeling ashamed or judged (Maina et al., 2022). The integrated methods should also allow for social support from friends and families while addressing environmental stressors that may lead to relapse or exacerbate underlying conditions.
In conclusion, coping mechanisms for alcohol and substance abuse among children and adolescents include adaptive and maladaptive techniques. Adaptive techniques help in alleviating underlying comorbid mental health issues like anxiety and depression to reduce chances of relapse. However, maladaptive coping mechanisms exacerbate the addiction and underlying mental health issues and create a vicious cycle that strengthens addiction. As such, it is important for counselors to integrate adaptive coping strategies into treatment methods to enhance the effectiveness of the treatment options. Integrating adaptive coping techniques into treatment methods not only accelerates the recovery process but also helps the children and adolescents feel the motivation to change.
References
Grummitt, L., Kelly, E. V., Newton, N. C., Stapinski, L., Lawler, S., Prior, K., & Barrett, E. L. (2023). Self-compassion and avoidant coping as mediators of the relationship between childhood maltreatment and mental health and alcohol use in young adulthood. Child Abuse & Neglect, 106534.
Liu, L., Meng, W., & Liu, B. (2022). The mediating role of social support in the relationship between parenting styles and adolescent drug abuse identification. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 802408.
Maina, G., Li, Y., Fang, Y., Amoyaw, J., Pandey, M., Herzog, T., … & Mousavian, G. (2022). Exploring arts-based interventions for youth substance use prevention: a scoping review of literature. BMC public health, 22(1), 2281.
Santini, Z. I., Meilstrup, C., Hinrichsen, C., Nielsen, L., Koyanagi, A., Koushede, V., … & Madsen, K. R. (2020). Associations between multiple leisure activities, mental health and substance use among adolescents in Denmark: A nationwide cross-sectional study. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 14, 593340.
Shafiei, E., Hoseini, A. F., Parsaeian, F., Heidarinejad, A., & Azmal, M. (2016). Relapse coping strategies in young adults addicts: A quantitative study in Iran. Indian journal of psychological medicine, 38(1), 46-49.
Simione, L., & Gnagnarella, C. (2023). Humor coping reduces the positive relationship between avoidance coping strategies and perceived stress: a moderation analysis. Behavioral Sciences, 13(2), 179.
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