This study characterized alcohol and posttraumatic stress symptomatology in a sample of young adults who had experienced a serious traumatic event. Consistent with other studies of comorbid AUD-PTSD, we found substantial overlap between alcohol and PTS symptoms in three groups. This indicates that subjects who did not necessarily meet the full diagnostic criteria for either AUD or PTSD experienced potentially debilitating symptoms of both disorders. Additionally, having a mother with AUD was associated with increased odds of membership in classes where alcohol symptoms ranged from moderate to high, while paternal AUD was associated only with membership in the high symptom severity class. While the link between parental AUD and offspring’s later alcohol and posttraumatic stress symptomology cannot be directly inferred from this analysis, young adult offspring exposed to trauma and who have moderate to high drinking problems were significantly more likely to have a parent (or both) with an AUD.
