Childhood trauma affects psychological distress and Alcohol Abstinence Self-efficacy in individuals with Alcohol Use Disorder

Abstract

Childhood trauma is a problem that can cause suffering and long-term negative consequences for the individual. A secondary analysis of the dataset in the Gothenburg Alcohol Research Project (n = 349) aimed to investigate the effects of childhood trauma, as assessed by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), on psychological distress, as assessed by the General Severity Index (GSI), and Alcohol Abstinence Self-Efficacy (AASE), in individuals suffering from Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). A hierarchical regression was conducted to test if higher scores of CTQ were associated with lower scores of AASE. This was confirmed in model 1. However, adding GSI to model 2 meant childhood trauma was no longer a significant predictor of AASE, indicating a possible mediation effect of GSI. A mediation analysis confirmed that GSI was a significant negative mediator in the relationship between CTQ and AASE. Higher scores of CTQ were associated with higher scores of GSI, which in turn were associated with lower scores of AASE. The results show the importance of addressing childhood trauma, psychological distress, and Alcohol Abstinence Self-Efficacy in interventions for individuals with AUD. Future research could explore causal chains through longitudinal studies to investigate the impact of CTQ, GSI, and AASE on treatment outcomes.