Alcohol Use, Military Sexual Trauma, Expectancies, and Coping Skills in Women Veterans Presenting to Primary Care

HIGHLIGHTS

• ▶ Chi square analyses revealed a higher percentage of drinkers than non-drinkers reported military sexual trauma.
• ▶ Poisson regressions revealed that the depression, positive evaluations, and avoidance coping predicted alcohol use.
• ▶ Alcohol use was influenced by the combination of positive evaluations and avoidant coping.

Positive expectancies and evaluations emerged as significant correlates of AUDIT scores, while PTSD symptoms were not related to AUDIT scores. A hierarchical regression revealed a significant positive interaction between avoidance coping and positive evaluations. Depression, positive evaluations and avoidance coping were significant independent predictors of AUDIT scores in the final model, but MST was not.

Findings highlight the importance of considering of the function of alcohol use when delivering clinical interventions and the need for further research on the association between MST and drinking in women veterans.

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