(PS13-89) Drinking to Cope Explains the Relationship Between Urgency and Alcohol Use in Community Adults with Poorer Distress Regulation and Probable PTSD

Abstract Text: Individuals with PTSD have been found to be more likely to engage in impulsive and risky behavior and develop expectancies about the function of such behavior. However, few studies have examined these relationships in community samples with PTSD or identified who is most at-risk for developing behavior expectancies. Thus, we sought to determine whether drinking coping motives mediated the relationship between negative urgency and alcohol use in adults with probable PTSD and poorer distress regulation. Participants (N = 92, Mage = 35.9, 52.2% men, 66.3% White) were recruited via Prolific and completed measures of PTSD symptoms, impulsive traits, drinking motives, alcohol use, and distress tolerance. The overall moderated mediation (PROCESS; Hayes, 2013; model 7) index was significant, b = -2.20, 95% CI [-4.09,-.84]. Among participants with the poorest distress regulation (b = -1.40, 95% CI [-4.10, 1.03]), there was a significant indirect effect of negative urgency on alcohol use through coping motives. In adults with probable PTSD, drinking to cope motives explain the relationship between negative urgency and alcohol use for individuals with poorer distress regulation. This highlights distress regulation and negative urgency as risk factors for alcohol coping motives and alcohol use in adults with PTSD.