Adolescents' Perceptions of Friends during Substance Abuse Treatment: A Qualitative Study

Changing peer groups is a common emphasis in many adolescent substance abuse treatment approaches. The aim of this article is to explore the following issues using qualitative data from interviews with 12 adolescents admitted to outpatient substance abuse treatment: 1) Did adolescents perceive that their friends supported substance abuse treatment?; 2) Did adolescents perceive that their friends supported abstinence?; and 3) Did adolescents change friends between intake and discharge? In terms of friends' support of substance abuse treatment, adolescents perceived a mixture of positive, neutral, and negative responses. While no adolescent described a situation in which friends explicitly discouraged abstinence, most did talk about how friends could or would assist them as they attempted to refrain from substance use, at least while they were in treatment. Few adolescents made any changes in peer groups between intake to and discharge from outpatient treatment. Clinical and research implications are discussed.