This study explores the role cognitive appraisal may play in an adolescent’s decision to run away, use drugs, or commit suicide. Based on a cognitive theory of stress & coping which posits cognitive appraisal of a situation as an important mediator of stress & as one of the determinants of an adaptational strategy, it examines irrational beliefs & self-efficacy expectations with respect to their possible influence on the meaning a situation has for an individual & their selection of behavioral &/or emotional options to manage it.