The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship among stress, coping styles, and substance abuse recovery. Two different scales were administered to measure perceived stress and coping styles. The data were collected by the researcher conducting an online survey of 51 recovering substance abusers, most of which had multiple years of recovery and were involved in either Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.

This study found that the participants experienced moderate to low levels of perceived stress. Secondly, perceived stress was found to be positively associated with self-distraction, self-blame, and behavioral disengagement; and negatively associated with active coping and acceptance. Thirdly, those with more recovery time significantly engaged more often in the coping styles of planning and acceptance.

With the growing demand for social workers to be competent in the area of substance abuse, it is important to understand how stress and coping styles relate to positive treatment outcomes.