(PS11-B48) Differential Effects of Index Trauma on the Relation Between Drinking Motives and Problematic Alcohol Use

Drinking motives targeting social- (e.g., to be sociable), coping- (e.g., to avoid negative feelings), enhancement- (e.g., to feel better), and conformity- (e.g., to fit in with others) related outcomes are known to hold associations with problematic alcohol use in survivors of significant trauma (e.g., Stappenbeck et al., 2013). While studies provide consistent evidence for the overall effects of different motives, existing research has largely relied on trauma-specific samples (e.g., combat veterans, sexual assault survivors; McDevitt-Murphy et al., 2017), leading to questions about the stability of relations across various index events. Nuances in the interpersonal and intrapersonal processing of different forms of exposure (e.g., accidents, sexual assault, physical violence) could influence both motives for alcohol use and the situations in which use occurs, potentially resulting in differential patterns of risk. Aims of the current study were to assess the moderating effects of trauma type on the relation between drinking motives and problematic alcohol use.

Participants included university students (N = 167; 75% cisgender women) involved in an ongoing study exploring functional outcomes following significant trauma. Individuals reporting probable exposure on an initial screening were invited to participate in interviews evaluating the presence, type, and frequency of different Criterion-A events. For this assessment, participants identified an index trauma defined as the experience resulting in the greatest degree of continuing distress and functional impairment. Index events for the current study were classified as accidents/disasters, sexual assaults, or instances of physical assault/threatened violence. Questionnaire measures were completed at the end of the assessment with scores from the Drinking Motives Questionnaire (DMQ) and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) used to assess drinking motives and problematic consumption, respectively.

Moderating effects of trauma group on the associations of drinking motives with problematic alcohol use were assessed in a series of regression models controlling for participant sex. Social motives evidenced a unique relation with elevations in alcohol use irrespective of index trauma (β = .62, p < .001). By contrast, index event moderated the effect of coping motives (β = .24, p = .017), with coping-focused drinking holding stronger associations with problematic alcohol use in survivors of sexual assault (β = .70, p < .001) as compared to those exposed to accidents/disaster (β = .30, p = .012). A similar interaction was observed for enhancement motives (β = .20, p = .031), again with stronger associations between enhancement-oriented drinking and problematic use for survivors of sexual assaults (β = .82, p < .001) versus accidents/disaster (β = .51, p < .001). Conformity motives failed to demonstrate a unique association with drinking behavior in these data.

Data suggest that different motives may hold differential associations with alcohol use in survivors of sexual violence versus non-assaultive trauma. Monitoring of coping- and enhancement-focused drinking should be of particular relevance for clinicians treating survivors of sexual assault.