Posttraumatic stress and hazardous alcohol use in trauma-exposed young adults: indirect effects of self-disgust

Abstract

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorders are highly co-occurring. Several explanatory models of the relation between PTSD and hazardous alcohol use have been identified. However, the exact nature of this relation is not fully understood. Self-disgust may explain the relation between PTSD symptoms and hazardous drinking. Objectives: The goal of the current study was to examine whether there was an indirect effect of probable PTSD on hazardous alcohol use via two domains of self-disgust: (disgust with characteristics of the self, disgust with one’s behavior). Participants were 376 undergraduate students who reported experiencing at least one Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for DSM Disorders, 5th edition-defined traumatic event. Participants completed self-report measures online, which assessed their trauma exposure, PTSD symptoms, self-disgust, and their alcohol use behaviors. Results: Probable PTSD was indirectly associated with an increased likelihood of engaging in hazardous drinking through the pathway of increased disgust toward one’s behaviors. Although probable PTSD was also positively linked to disgust with characteristics of the self, this form of self-disgust was associated with a decreased likelihood of engaging in hazardous drinking, leading to a negative indirect relationship between probable PTSD and hazardous drinking. Conclusions/Importance: Overall, this study suggests that the role of self-disgust in the association between PTSD and hazardous drinking is complex, highlighting the need for further research in this area.

Keywords:

• Alcohol
• PTSD
• posttraumatic stress
• self-disgust

Acknowledgements

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of National Institutes of Health or the United States government. All other authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Notes

1 The following measures were also administered to participants in both samples, but were not included in the manuscript because they were not deemed relevant to the specific aims of the current study: Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale, Dimensional Obsessive Compulsive Scale, Five Factor Mindfulness Scale-Short Form, Three Domains of Disgust Scale, UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale.

2 We also examined alternative models with total PTSD symptom severity and each of the four PTSD symptom clusters (re-experiencing, avoidance, negative alterations in cognition and mood, arousal and reactivity) as separate predictors, and the pattern or results was similar to the primary models presented.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Office of Research on Women’s Health grant K12 DA035150 (Badour, C.L; PI: Curry).