The contribution of early environmental influences, such as parental AUD, to offspring trauma exposure—whether or not the parent was responsible for the trauma—and negative mental health and substance use sequelae among individuals trauma exposed cannot be overstated. Our study finds that these sequelae may include problem drinking or even AUD, as well as clinically significant posttraumatic stress symptoms among some young adult offspring of parents with AUD. Additionally, our study is one of relatively few that uses a high-risk sample to empirically ascertain the co-occurrence of alcohol and PTS symptoms among young adults. Using LCA to determine whether and how alcohol and PTS symptoms cluster together is one way to understand how individuals exposed to trauma may express subthreshold features of one or both disorders, or how certain traumatic experiences (e.g. physical assault, sexual assault) could induce varied responses that may involve problematic drinking in addition to PTS symptoms. The young ages at which subjects first reported trauma underscores further the clinical importance of early detection and intervention in families where there is a history of AUD. Increasingly COGA researchers
