Stress-coping models of addiction suggest that substances are commonly used to cope with life stress and function to reduce negative affect (self-medication) (Hussong et al., 2001; Wills & Hirky, 1996). It is the perception of an event that determines whether it will lead to distress (transactional stress theory; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), with perceived stress partly accounting for elevated drinking in adolescents (Chassin et al., 1996; Hussong & Chassin, 2004). Family structure differences in substance use may also be due in part to differential exposure to stress, whereby the risk of experiencing stressors varies by family composition (Gore et al., 1992). Indeed, one study indicated that elevated rates of substance use problems among youth from single-parent families were partly attributable to exposure to stress (Barrett & Turner, 2006). The extent to which this is true for parental separation/divorce, however, is not yet known.
