However, few studies have examined potentially subclinical alcohol misuse and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptomology. Notable exceptions include Shankman and colleagues’ (2009) longitudinal study of subthreshold psychiatric conditions, which found that subclinical alcohol use (that is, the presence of multiple symptoms falling slightly below the diagnostic threshold) was significantly associated with the development PTSD over a 15-year period among 1505 young adults. Another study, drawing data from two community samples, differentiated groups of trauma-exposed individuals by mean number and type of PTS symptoms—those with pervasive disturbance, those with intermediate disturbance, and those with no disturbance (Breslau et al., 2005). The main differentiator between the pervasive and intermediate disturbance groups was a greater mean number of numbing and avoidance symptoms among those with pervasive disturbance (Breslau et al., 2005). An examination of the alcohol use patterns and PTS symptomology among young adults with lifetime trauma exposure would enable us to ascertain whether and how alcohol and trauma symptoms cluster together in a sample of trauma-exposed young adults, and furthermore to explore associations of trauma type and parent AUD status with these frequently
