Although the majority of research supports the link between CPA and alcohol-related problems, methodology for the assessment of CPA has not been consistent across studies, possibly accounting for discrepancies in the magnitude of the associations between CPA and alcohol-related constructs reported in the literature. The primary focus of the current investigation was to examine the relationship between varying assessments of CPA and alcohol use disorder (AUD), to determine if questions that ask about specific physically harsh/aggressive behaviors on the part of others (e.g., parental/others’ harsh disciplinary practices) – what we will term here “behaviorally defined CPA” – yield different estimates than those including abuse terminology such as “physical assault” commonly presented with definitions in a trauma checklist. This is an important question as many large scale epidemiologic studies are limited in their ability to include numerous questions about trauma exposure. While single item trauma questions are typically included in these studies, additional behavioral assessment may allow for a more comprehensive query of specific occurrences that may have been experienced during childhood (e.g. harsh punishment) and have been shown to detect
