Abstract
Emotion regulation is discussed as a key factor in moderating the association between trauma exposure and cocaine use as well as depressive symptoms, yet these associations are not well understood. The goal of this study was to test whether experiencing trauma and difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with cocaine use and depressive symptoms in adults seeking treatment for cocaine dependence. One hundred thirty-five adults who use cocaine completed measures assessing recent cocaine use, depression, difficulties in emotion regulation, and traumatic exposure. Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that difficulties in emotion regulation and trauma exposure explained a significant amount of the variance in depressive symptoms but not cocaine use. The interaction between difficulties in emotion regulation and trauma exposure was not a significant predictor in either model. Our results suggest that targeting difficulties in emotion regulation might alleviate depressive symptoms but may not affect cocaine use in trauma-exposed adults.
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We are grateful to Nicholas Crist for helping with an earlier draft of this manuscript and Priel Meir for providing comments and proofreading on a previous version.
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Godfrey, C.J., Meyer, T.D., Boster, K.A. et al. Trauma and Emotion Regulation: Associations with Depressive Symptoms and Cocaine Use among Treatment-seeking Adults. Int J Ment Health Addiction 21, 2160–2174 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00713-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00713-w