The findings from this study have important implications. First, these results suggest that traumatic experiences in childhood have lasting impacts on brain function, as evidenced by the fact that sexual/physical abuse was associated with both concurrent influences on EEGc and on changes across development. Additionally, type of trauma experienced may have differential associations with EEGc across sexes. Females with childhood sexual assault exposure and males with childhood physical assault exposure may be particularly high-risk groups on whom prevention and intervention efforts should be prioritized. Although links between trauma and PTSD and AUD have been well-established, these study results begin to suggest that atypical changes in alpha EEGc across development may be one factor by which certain traumatic experiences confer risk for AUD and PTSD. This study joins other emerging work (e.g. Kummar, Correia, and Fujiyama, 2019) in suggesting that there may be some clinical value in integrating EEG measures into treatment for trauma-exposed individuals, as such biological markers may enable earlier diagnoses and/or an avenue through which to provide neurofeedback over the course of treatment.
