Alonzo, JulieMann, Anthony2024-08-072024-08-072024-08-07https://hdl.handle.net/1794/29719Substance use disorder (SUD) among adolescents has a significant impact on families and communities. It can lead to criminality, poor school performance, chronic use over a lifetime, high risk behaviors, and even premature death. Recovery from SUD is more than physical abstinence from alcohol and other drugs. Mental health and emotional well-being are also central to recovery. Individuals in recovery from SUD can learn to navigate life’s ups and downs without the physical or emotional craving for using mind-altering substances, living self-directed and fulfilling lives. As an ecological model, Recovery Capital (RC) includes an individual’s social networks as well as the financial and physical resources they have available to aid and bolster them in their recovery (Granfield & Cloud, 1999; White & Cloud, 2008). The Recovery Capital Adolescent Model (RCAM) was introduced by Hennessey et al., (2019) who determined higher levels of certain RCAM elements increase the likelihood of students enrolling in a Recovery High School (RHS) after some form of initial treatment (Hennessy & Finch, 2019). Among other recovery-related outcomes, students who attend an RHS are more likely to be abstinent from substance use than their non-RHS peers after 6+ months attendance (Finch et al., 2018). In this mixed-methods study, I sought to explore potential predictors of sustained RHS attendance among students for 6+ months after enrollment, first by identifying variables of interest within the current RCAM construct (Hennessey et al., 2019) and subsequently by introducing novel constructs for consideration as possible sub-components within the RCAM framework. Prior to this study there was a lack of research analyzing variables that might be associated with, or even predict, an RHS student’s attendance for 6+ months after initial enrollment. This study produced evidence of certain RCAM-related constructs having statistically significant association with ongoing RHS attendance. The four predictor variables in this study included Twelve-Step Recovery (TSR) and three novel constructs, including Educator Rapport and Support (ERS), Peer Support Reciprocity (PSR), and engagement in Ongoing Mental Healthcare (OMH). Qualitative data analysis validated and extended quantitative results. Mixed methods data integration produced evidence that RCAM-related constructs produce emotional responses in students that support them as they progress from initial enrollment through graduation. Keywords: adolescent substance use disorder, recovery capital, adolescent recovery capital model, recovery high school, adolescent recovery outcomesen-USAll Rights Reserved.adolescent recovery capital modeladolescent recovery outcomesadolescent substance use disorderRCAMrecovery capitalrecovery high schoolElectronic Thesis or Dissertation