Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between substance abuse, gender and emotion-focused coping amongst Internally Displaced Persons. The study randomly sampled 300 IDPs aged 15 - 60 years with a mean age of 37.5. The participants were sampled from two IDPs’ camps using purposive sampling technique. A cross-sectional survey research design was employed, while multiple regression analysis was used for data analysis. However, the results showed that female IDPs were significantly higher in emotion-focused coping than their male counterparts (β = -.46, p< .05, t = -9.03). The study recommends developing problem-focused coping mechanisms instead of emotion-focused modules to assist substance a in the various IDPs’ camps. In addition, more emotional support should be extended to the female IDPs to reduce the use of psychedelic substances to deal with trauma and stress.