Posttraumatic stress severity is associated with coping motives for alcohol use among in-patient and community recruited adolescents.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

A growing body of work suggests individuals with more severe post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are at higher risk for developing problematic alcohol use outcomes. Extending work from the adult literature, the present study was the first to examine the extent to which PTSS is related to drinking motives for alcohol use in both clinical and non-clinical samples of adolescents.

DESIGN

Hierarchical regression analyses were used to predict coping motives for alcohol use from PTSS, above and beyond demographic variables, alcohol use frequency, and other alcohol use motives.

METHODS

Trauma-exposed adolescents before entering treatment (Sample 1 n = 41) and recruited from the local community (Sample 2 n = 55) self-reported on PTSS and alcohol use motives.

RESULTS

PTSS positively predicted coping motives for alcohol use after controlling for age, gender, and alcohol use frequency.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study highlights the need to consider both PTSS severity, as well as underlying cognitive mechanisms (e.g., motives), to better understand the etiology of problematic alcohol use among trauma-exposed youth. Future work focused on clarifying the trajectory of alcohol use motives and problems as a function of PTSS is needed.