Our study is not without limitations. First, our sample is composed of relatively high-functioning university students. Although about 18% of our sample met criteria for one or more psychiatric disorders, the majority of participants were healthy thereby limiting variability in dimensional symptom measures. It is particularly important to consider this limitation in the context of alcohol use and exposure to ELS. With regard to alcohol use, epidemiological data suggest that alcohol use is heaviest in young adult years (Fillmore et al. 1991; Naimi et al. 2003) with problematic usage tapering off in the majority of individuals when they reach their mid-20s (Jackson et al. 2001). As such, it is unclear whether the present data are predictive of long-term alcohol use problems that extend beyond the college years. However, given that problematic usage in college is predictive of later alcohol use disorder (Schulenberg et al. 2001), these data, at minimum, identify important individual difference factors (i.e. VS reactivity and ELS) and mechanisms (i.e. stress-related anhedonia and coping) contributing to risk for problematic drinking in college, which may then promote future alcohol use disorders.
