Secondly, compared to other population studies, the community-based comparison participants experienced highly elevated rates of traumatic events (Breslau et al., 1998; Kessler et al., 1995; Koenen et al., 2002; Tjaden, 2006). The community-based participants were recruited from the same zip codes where cocaine dependent index cases lived and matched based on year of birth, gender, and ethnicity. Eighty-seven percent of the men and women recruited from the community suffered at least one traumatic event, which is similar to the 1996 Detroit Area Survey of Trauma, but almost double that reported in the National Comorbidity Survey (Breslau et al., 1998; Kessler et al., 1995). Although the overall prevalence of traumatic events was similar to the Detroit Area Survey of Trauma, our community-based comparison participants experienced much higher levels of assault and violent events (Breslau et al., 1998). For example, Breslau et al. (1998) reported that 5.4% of respondents were raped and 6.2% were sexually assaulted, whereas 21% of our community sample reported being raped/sexually assaulted.
