Overall, the internalizing-externalizing model did not appear to fit our data well with the possible exception of Classes 3 and 4. Both of these classes were characterized by high levels of sexual assault and high to moderately high severity on PTS symptoms (Class 3), indicative of internalizing symptoms, or AUD (Class 4), indicative of externalizing symptoms. Criterion B, the cluster of symptoms linked to persistent re-experiencing of trauma, had the highest endorsement in both groups at 99% for Class 3 and 60% for Class 4, and while alcohol use was fairly mild in Class 3, the top two symptoms endorsed—larger/longer (32%) and inability to cut back (28%)—were also the top two symptoms endorsed in Class 4, which may indicate some shared etiology between the use of alcohol in larger quantities than intended, the inability to cut back, and the cluster of PTS symptoms that characterize persistent re-experiencing of trauma—internalizing symptoms. Breslau (2009) had previously found that females exposed to assaultive traumas demonstrated a higher preponderance of avoidance/numbing symptoms than did men and females not exposed to trauma, which coupled with
