The relationship of coping skills and mental health with attitude to addiction in adolescents

Aim and The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship of coping skills and mental health with attitude to addiction in high school students.Methods and Materials: The subjects of this study consisted of 600 high school students (300 girls, 300 boys) who were selected by multiphase cluster sampling from high schools in city of Shiraz and were assessed with coping inventory, GHQ-28 and attitude to addiction inventory. The data were analyzed using Pearson multiple regression and t test methods. Findings showed that there is a significant difference between adolescents who have high score on GHQ (bad condition) and who have low score on GHQ (better condition) in attitude to addiction. Furthermore a positive significant relationship was found between the problem focused coping and negative attitude to addiction. Also between non-effective coping skills and negative attitude to addiction a negative significant correlation was found. Regression analysis showed that non-effective coping skills are the best predictor of negative attitude to addiction. It can be argued that coping styles and general health in students have a great importance in screening and preventive interventions for substance use.