Childhood maltreatment, motives to drink and alcohol-related problems in young adulthood

Abstract

Background: Young adults with a history of child maltreatment (CM) are often vulnerable to alcohol-related problems. Drinking motives have been widely studied to explain alcohol-related problems in young adulthood.

Objectives: The aims of the current study were to examine the link between CM and alcohol-related problems and to test whether CM is indirectly related to alcohol-related problems via different types of drinking motives.

Participants and setting: Two hundred eight participants were recruited in a mid-Atlantic urban area (M age = 19.7, 78.4 % female) via advertisements placed throughout the community.

Methods: Participants completed self-report measures of CM (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire), types of drinking motives (the Drinking Motives Questionnaire Revised Short Form), and alcohol-related problems (Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test whether CM was associated with alcohol use, both directly and indirectly, through drinking motives.

Results: We found that both coping (β = 0.53,p < 0.001) and enhancement drinking motives (β = 0.15, p = 0.031) were associated with alcohol-related problems. Additionally, CM was related to alcohol-related problems indirectly via coping motive (β = 0.11, p = 0.028).

Conclusion: Young adults with a history of CM may use alcohol to cope with trauma-related negative emotionality. Targeting emotional distress in CM-exposed individuals may be helpful in preventing and treating alcohol-related problems in this vulnerable population.

Keywords: Alcohol-related problems; Child maltreatment; Drink to cope; Drinking motives; Young adults.