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The relationship between childhood trauma and alcohol use initiation in Black and White adolescent girls: considering socioeconomic status and neighborhood factors

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A Correction to this article was published on 28 December 2017

This article has been updated

Abstract

Purpose

To assess whether the higher prevalence of childhood trauma exposure but lower prevalence of alcohol use in Black vs. White adolescent girls reflects a lower magnitude of association between trauma and alcohol use initiation in Black girls; and additionally, whether low socioeconomic status (SES) and neighborhood factors account in part for the link between trauma and early alcohol use.

Methods

Data were drawn from annual interviews conducted with an urban sample of girls and their primary caregivers from ages 5–8 (baseline) through age 17 (n = 2068, 57.7% Black, 42.3% White). Cox proportional hazards regression analyses using race and childhood trauma to predict alcohol use initiation were conducted in two stages, with SES and neighborhood factors added in the second stage.

Results

Childhood trauma was more prevalent (29.0 vs. 17.5%) and alcohol use initiation less prevalent (37.7 vs. 54.4%) in Black vs. White girls, but we found no evidence for differences in liability conferred by trauma. However, significant changes in hazards ratios (HRs) from the unadjusted to adjusted models were observed for Black race (HR = 0.57, CI 0.50–0.65 to HR = 0.66, CI 0.54–0.80) and childhood trauma (HR = 1.70, CI 1.46–1.99 to HR = 1.34, CI 1.05–1.71).

Conclusions

Findings indicate that childhood trauma is an equally potent risk factor for early drinking onset for Black and White girls; the risk for early alcohol use in Black girls who have experienced traumatic events should not be underestimated. Results further indicate that low SES and neighborhood factors contribute to the associations of childhood trauma and race with alcohol use initiation.

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Change history

  • 28 December 2017

    In the original article, in Table 3, the sentence “Primary caregiver education ≤  12 years” should be “Primary caregiver education < 12 years”. The original article was corrected.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA023549, AA007453, and AA017921), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA012237), the National Institute on Mental Health (MH056630), FISA Foundation, and Falk Foundation. We thank all of the research participants and their families for the time they dedicated to this study.Compliance with ethical standards.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 389 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA

    Carolyn E. Sartor

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    Rachel L. Bachrach, Stephanie D. Stepp, Alison E. Hipwell & Tammy Chung

  3. Missouri Institute of Mental Health, University of Missouri–St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Kimberly B. Werner

Authors
  1. Carolyn E. Sartor
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  2. Rachel L. Bachrach
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  3. Stephanie D. Stepp
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  4. Kimberly B. Werner
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  5. Alison E. Hipwell
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  6. Tammy Chung
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carolyn E. Sartor.

Ethics declarations

Ethical standards

This study has been approved by the appropriate ethics committee and has, therefore, been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. For participants over age 18, informed consent was obtained and for participants under age 18, assent was obtained from participants and consent was obtained from the primary caregiver prior to participation in the study.

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

The original version of this article was revised: In Table 3, the sentence “Primary caregiver education ≤ 12 years” should be “Primary caregiver education < 12 years”.

A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1478-6.

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Sartor, C.E., Bachrach, R.L., Stepp, S.D. et al. The relationship between childhood trauma and alcohol use initiation in Black and White adolescent girls: considering socioeconomic status and neighborhood factors. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 53, 21–30 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1461-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1461-2

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