Coping motives mediate the relationship between borderline personality features and alcohol, cannabis, and prescription opioid use disorder symptomatology in a substance use disorder treatment sample.

Borderline personality disorder and substance use disorder co-occur at a high rate. However, little is known about the mechanisms driving this association. This study examined substance use motives for 3 common substance use disorders among 193 individuals in substance use disorder treatment. We found that the coping motive consistently mediated the relationship between borderline personality and alcohol, cannabis, and prescription opioid use disorders. For this substance use disorder treatment sample, our findings support the self-medication model of substance use, and that interventions aimed at coping-related substance use would be helpful among these patients. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).