Posttraumatic stress avoidance symptoms as mediators in the development of alcohol use disorders after exposure to childhood sexual abuse in a Swiss community sample
Open accessAbstract
This study examined the role of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms of re-experience, avoidance, and hyperarousal in the relationship between different types of trauma and alcohol use disorders (AUD). We used data from 731 trauma-exposed individuals who participated in the first wave of the PsyCoLaus-study. Trauma characteristics were assessed relatively to the occurrence of lifetime PTSD symptoms and AUD. The results suggest that lifetime and childhood sexual abuse as well as overall childhood trauma were directly linked to AUD and PTSD symptoms, in particular to avoidance symptoms. From single symptom clusters PTSD avoidance was found to specifically mediate the trauma-AUD pathway. Both childhood and sexual trauma strongly contribute to the comorbidity of PTSD and AUD and avoidance-type symptoms appear to play a central role in maintaining this association. Hence, the alleviation of avoidance symptoms might be an important target for therapeutic intervention among victims of sexual abuse before specific addiction treatment is initiated.
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Findings are consistent with prior studies in which avoidance significantly mediated relationships between childhood maltreatment and outcomes associated with AS traits.
“Findings are consistent with prior studies in which avoidance significantly mediated relationships between childhood maltreatment and outcomes associated with AS traits (Müller et al., 2015; Roche et al., 2019).”
From Childhood Physical Abuse and Antisocial Traits: Mediating Role of Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Clusters (2022) · cites this paper as Müller et al., 2015
The mediation results (p. 12) report a significant indirect effect through PTSD avoidance symptoms between childhood trauma, including childhood sexual abuse, and alcohol use disorder. The paper does not establish that alcohol use disorder is an outcome associated with AS traits or examine AS traits; that characterization is not supported by this source. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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- Authors
- Müller, M., Vandeleur, C., Rodgers, S., Rössler, W., Castelao, E., Preisig, M., & Ajdacic-Gross, V.
- Affiliations
- University Hospital Zurich (CH)
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Müller, Mario
- Venue
- Child Abuse & Neglect
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-08
- Volume
- 46
- Pages
- 8-15
- ISSN
- 0145-2134 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2059161307
- Cited by
- 28
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 2.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- serval.unil.ch
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Abuse & Neglect (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- SERVAL (Université de Lausanne) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion)
- IRIS (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- GlaxoSmithKline (3200B0–105993)
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (122661, 118308, 105993, 3200B0, 139468)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Keywords
- post-traumatic stress disorder, avoidance symptoms, alcoholism, child sexual abuse, childhood trauma, mediation, hyperarousal, trauma exposure
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Child, Child Abuse, Sexual, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Self Medication, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Switzerland, Alcohol-Related Disorders, Adult Survivors of Child Abuse
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