Proposed pathways to problematic drinking via post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, emotion dysregulation, and dissociative tendencies following child/adolescent sexual abuse

ABSTRACT

The relationship between early sexual abuse and college problem drinking was examined using an integration of the self-medication and vulnerability-stress models. Baseline survey data from parti-cipants (N = 213; 135 men and 78 college women) completing a mandated, brief alcohol intervention were utilized. Representative of the self-medication model, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms mediated the early sexual abuse/problem drinking relationship. Two psychological vulnerability factors—emotion dysregulation and dissociative tendencies—were incorporated into self-medication findings via more advanced mediational models. Results highlighted that problem drinking increased as dissociative tendencies increased, and relations between the vulnerability factors and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms were in an unexpected direction.

KEYWORDS:

• Problematic drinking
• college
• child/adolescent sexual abuse
• PTSD
• vulnerability