Newswise, October 9, 2016 — Trauma
exposure has consistently been reported as a risk factor for alcohol use and
related problems. Further, racial differences in alcohol use, alcohol use
disorder (AUD), and trauma exposure between European American (EA) and African
American (AA) women have been reported previously.
This study sought to identify racial
differences in alcohol involvement, and to examine the risk conferred by
specific trauma exposures and PTSD for different stages of alcohol involvement
in EA and AA women.
Researchers examined data from the
Missouri Adolescent Female Twins Study: the mean age of the 3,787 women at time
of interview was 24.5 years; 85.4 percent were EA, 14.6 percent AA.
Trauma exposures were defined as
sexual abuse (SA), physical abuse (PA), witnessing another person being killed
or injured, experiencing an accident, or experiencing a disaster. Trauma
exposure was examined as a predictor of alcohol initiation, transition to the
first AUD symptom, and transition to an AUD diagnosis – while also considering
other substance involvement, parental characteristics, and commonly co-occurring
psychiatric disorders.
Results showed that trauma
experiences were important contributors to all stages of alcohol involvement in
EA women only, with different trauma types conferring risk for each stage of
alcohol involvement.
For example, in EA women SA was
associated with alcohol initiation prior to the age of 14; PA predicted the
transition from initiation to the first AUD symptom; and PA, witnessing injury
or death, and SA predicted the transition to an AUD diagnosis.
There were no such findings in AA
women. Further, PTSD was not revealed as a significant predictor of AUD in
either EA or AA women. The findings suggest that trauma, independent of PTSD,
directly contributes to alcohol involvement.
Further, they highlight the
importance of considering racial differences when looking at linkages between
traumatic experiences and alcohol involvement.
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