lead to extended hyperarousal and mesolimbic system overactivation, disrupting typical neural network development (Teicher et al., 1997; Teicher & Samson, 2016). Notably, no associations between CNAT and EEGc were observed, consistent with literature indicating assaultive trauma poses higher risk for PTSD (Breslau et al., 1998), depression (McCutcheon et al., 2009), and more pronounced changes in brain development (De Bellis & Zisk, 2014; Meyers et al., 2019b). Additionally, this study extends literature on functional connectivity and shared liability for AUD and PTSD. Differences in frontal functional connectivity were associated with AUD and PTSD symptoms, but to varying degrees across sexes. Importantly, findings demonstrated associations with both slope and intercept, offering insights potentially missed in prior cross-sectional studies. Together, these findings on trauma, AUD, and EEGc offer some of the first longitudinal evidence of associations between childhood trauma and frontal neural connectivity, with implications for understanding development of psychopathology.
