Premium
Childhood Maltreatment, Stressful Life Events, and Alcohol Craving in Adult Drinkers
Author(s) -
Kim June H.,
Martins Silvia S.,
Shmulewitz Dvora,
Santaella Julian,
Wall Melanie M.,
Keyes Katherine M.,
Eaton Nicholas R.,
Krueger Robert,
Grant Bridget F.,
Hasin Deborah S.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.12473
Subject(s) - columbia university , clinical neuropsychology , public health , alcohol abuse , performance studies , gerontology , library science , psychology , medicine , sociology , media studies , psychiatry , anthropology , nursing , computer science
Background Little is known about the relationship between stressful life events and alcohol craving in the general population, and whether a history of childhood maltreatment sensitizes individuals to crave alcohol after adult stressors. Methods Participants were 22,147 past‐year drinkers from Wave 2 (2004 to 2005) of the N ational E pidemiologic S urvey on A lcohol and R elated C onditions. A structured, face‐to‐face interview assessed past‐year stressful life events, alcohol craving, and history of childhood maltreatment. Logistic regression was used to generate adjusted odds ratios ( aOR ) to evaluate the relationship between stressful life events and craving, adjusting for demographic characteristics and parental history of alcoholism. Interaction between stressful life events and childhood maltreatment was also assessed. Results Compared to participants with no stressful life events, those with ≥3 events had increased odds of moderate alcohol craving ( aOR = 3.15 [95% CI = 2.30 to 4.33]) and severe craving ( aOR = 8.47 [95% CI = 4.78 to 15.01]). Stressful life events and childhood maltreatment interacted in predicting severe craving ( p = 0.017); those with ≥3 events were at higher risk of craving if they had been exposed to childhood maltreatment. Conclusions A direct relationship between stressful life events and risk of alcohol craving was observed. Further, history of childhood maltreatment increased the salience of stressful life events in adulthood. Future studies should examine the role of psychiatric comorbidity in more complex models of stress sensitization and alcohol craving.