The relationship between childhood physical abuse (CPA) – a physical trauma or physical injury caused by slapping, beating, hitting, or otherwise harming a child – and problem drinking is bidirectional and intergenerational. Over ten percent (10.9%) of adolescent girls report experiencing CPA (Hanson et al., 2006), a well-documented risk factor for alcohol-related problems in adolescence and young adulthood (Kilpatrick et al., 2000). Although the impact of CPA on later substance involvement has received much less attention than other childhood adversities [e.g., childhood sexual abuse (CSA), early substance initiation], CPA has been linked with a host of psychiatric and substance related pathologies in adolescence including early substance initiation, alcohol and other substance use disorders, major depression, and conduct disorder (Goldstein et al., 2013; Kaplan et al., 1998; Lo & Cheng, 2007). Research has also shown that those who experience CPA are at increased risk for psychiatric dysfunction persisting into adulthood (Fergusson, Boden, & Horwood, 2008; Springer, Sheridan, Kuo, & Carnes, 2007). Furthermore, adolescents whose parents misuse alcohol are at elevated risk for both CPA and alcohol-related problems (Kaplan, Sunday, Labruna, Pelcovitz,
