Despite strong linkages between PTSD and SUDs, not all studies suggest that relationships between TE and SUDs are due entirely to PTSD. For example, PTSD has been shown to only partially account for associations between childhood TE and substance use (21–23). However, these studies did not examine SUD diagnoses, and were conducted only in females. Two population-based studies found that TE was associated with different types of SUDs among individuals with and without PTSD: the first was a nationally representative US study on alcohol use disorders (8), and the second was a study from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry on nicotine dependence (12). However, neither study considered different types of SUDs concomitantly within the same study. In the only population-based study to separately examine associations of TE and PTSD with different substance use disorders in the same study, relationships between TE, PTSD and different forms of SUD were inconsistent (24). Specifically, neither TE nor PTSD was associated with alcohol use disorders, TE was associated with slightly elevated risk for nicotine dependence, and only PTSD was associated with drug use disorders
