This is the first study, to our knowledge, to examine the association between childhood trauma and longitudinal EEG coherence (EEGc) across adolescence and its role as a potential biological mechanism linking trauma exposure to AUD and PTSD symptoms in young adulthood. We observed differences in trajectories of left frontocentral alpha EEGc related to childhood sexual and physical assaultive trauma in females and childhood physical assaultive trauma in males. The left frontotemporal region of the brain is associated with language, learning, and memory, and has been implicated in studies of the effect of traumatic stress on the brain (Bremner, 2006; Carrion, Weems, Richert, Hoffman, & Reiss, 2010; Carrion & Wong, 2012; Stark et al., 2015). EEG interhemispheric alpha coherence in the prefrontal region also showed increased intercept but diminished growth in females with history of childhood sexual assaultive trauma, suggesting differences in executive function in these individuals. EEGc was associated with subsequent AUD and PTSD symptoms in trauma-exposed participants, with patterns indicating that trauma exposure was associated with worse AUD/PTSD outcomes.
