Young adults have previously been found to be at a sensitive time for developing alcohol use disorder with interpersonal trauma being an additional risk factor. This trauma exposure also adds additional risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study examines effects of PTSD symptoms and romantic relationship quality on patterns of alcohol consumption and alcohol-related consequences in college students.
Participants included 101 undergraduate students at a large public university. Students had to screen positive for probable trauma exposure and current alcohol use. They also had to report being in a monogamous relationship, endorse a history of sexual or physical assault, and report past 30-day alcohol use. Questionnaires were given to students to assess traumatic life events, past 30-day PTSD symptoms, relationship quality, past 30-day alcohol use, and alcohol use disorders.
The study showed that greater PTSD symptom severity was found to correlate to greater alcohol-related consequences. Romantic relationship quality was found to modify the association between PTSD symptomatology and how much a person will drink. Overall, high quality relationships were found to help with PTSD symptomatology and amount of alcohol drank. However, participants in low quality relationships with greater PTSD symptoms were found to be associated with more alcohol-related consequences. While these are important findings, more studies should be completed on the role of romantic relationship quality in association between PTSD symptoms and binge drinking behavior. The current study does shows that students with low quality relationships could potentially benefit from improving romantic relationships. It also shows that these high-quality relationships may help trauma-exposed young adults.
Take Away: Young adults are at a sensitive time for developing alcohol use disorder with interpersonal trauma being an additional risk factor. The study looks at PTSD symptoms and romantic relationship quality and how it effects alcohol consumption in college students. The study included 101 undergraduate students that were given questionnaires to assess the different variables for the study. The researchers found greater PTSD symptom severity correlated to greater alcohol-related consequences. They also found that high quality romantic relationships helped with PTSD symptomatology and amount of alcohol drank. Overall, the study shows that high-quality relationships may help trauma-exposed young adults.