Posttraumatic Stress and Alcohol Use Among Hispanic/Latinx University Students: A Moderated Indirect Effect Model of Coping-Related Drinking and Anxiety Sensitivity

Abstract

Objective: Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and anxiety sensitivity (AS) are associated with increased alcohol use and coping-motivated drinking among university students. This study among trauma-exposed Hispanic/Latinx university students sought to examine the indirect effect of PTSS on alcohol use severity through coping-motivated drinking and test the moderating role of AS and AS subfacets. Methods: University students who identified as Hispanic/Latinx (N = 830) were recruited from a large, urban, southern university and completed online, self-report questionnaires. Results: A significant interactive effect of PTSS and AS on coping-motivated drinking emerged. PTSS exerted a significant indirect effect on alcohol use severity, through coping-motivated drinking. Simple slope analyses revealed that PTSS was associated with coping-motivated drinking across all levels of AS. Post hoc results revealed unique biological sex differences in probable diagnosis odds ratios. Conclusions: These findings indicate that PTSS and AS are associated with coping-motivated drinking and alcohol use severity in trauma-exposed, Hispanic/Latinx university students.

Keywords:

• PTSD
• alcohol
• comorbidity
• anxiety sensitivity
• Hispanic/Latinx
• college students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported, in part, by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to the University of Houston (U54MD015946). This work was also supported, in part, by NIH/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism awards to the first (F31AA029600), second (F31AA029022), fifth authors (K23AA025920-01A1), and sixth authors (R01AA030157); and a NIH Research Diversity Supplement awarded to the fourth author (NIMH R01MH126586). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.