Structural Pathways Between PTSD Symptoms and Alcohol Use Consequences Among Women.

College women face heightened risk of interpersonal trauma, which is associated with co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use. As engagement in alcohol use can lead to negative repercussions, particularly for those using it to cope with psychological distress, it is important to further understand the variables that underlie this association. We aimed to identify emotional and cognitive processes that mediate the relation between PTSD symptom severity and alcohol use consequences among women interpersonal trauma survivors. Thus, we investigated the potential indirect effect of PTSD symptoms on alcohol use consequences via emotion dysregulation and alcohol use motives using structural equation modeling. A sample of 526 college women completed surveys; only those who reported lifetime interpersonal trauma and current alcohol use were included (n = 184). We found that PTSD severity had a significant indirect effect on alcohol use consequences via emotion dysregulation and alcohol use coping motives (β = 0.01, 95% CI [0.01, 0.02]). After accounting for the effects of the mediators of emotion dysregulation and alcohol use coping motives, there was no longer a significant direct effect of PTSD symptoms on the negative repercussions of alcohol use (β = 0.08, SE = 0.09, 95% CI [-0.02, 0.17]). Thus, PTSD symptoms predicted more emotion dysregulation, which predicted higher alcohol use to cope, which was associated with worse consequences, nullifying the direct effect of PTSD on alcohol use consequences. These findings could enhance evidence-based practices surrounding screening, assessment, and intervention for posttraumatic sequelae and improve quality of life for survivors of interpersonal violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]