Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- All Subjects: PTSD
Description
The present study utilized longitudinal data from a high-risk community sample (n= 377; 166 trauma-exposed; 54% males; 52% children of alcoholics; 73% non-Hispanic/Latino Caucasian; 22% Hispanic/Latino; 5% other ethnicity) to test a series of hypotheses that may help explain the risk pathways that link traumatic stress, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology, and problematic alcohol and drug use. Specifically, this study examined whether pre-trauma substance use problems increase risk for trauma exposure (the high-risk hypothesis) or PTSD symptoms (the susceptibility hypothesis), whether PTSD symptoms increase risk for later alcohol/drug problems (the self-medication hypothesis), and whether the association between PTSD symptoms and alcohol/drug problems is due to shared risk factors (the shared vulnerability hypothesis). This study also examined the roles of gender and ethnicity in these pathways. A series of logistic and negative binomial regressions were performed in a path analysis framework. A composite pre-trauma family adversity variable was formed from measures of family conflict, family life stress, parental alcoholism, and other parent psychopathology. Results provided the strongest support for the self-medication hypothesis, such that PTSD symptoms predicted higher levels of later alcohol and drug problems among non-Hispanic/Latino Caucasian participants, over and above the influences of pre-trauma family adversity, pre-trauma substance use problems, trauma exposure, and demographic variables. Results partially supported the high-risk hypothesis, such that adolescent substance use problems had a marginally significant unique effect on risk for assaultive violence exposure but not on overall risk for trauma exposure. There was no support for the susceptibility hypothesis, as pre-trauma adolescent substance use problems did not significantly influence risk for PTSD diagnosis/symptoms over and above the influence of pre-trauma family adversity. Finally, there was little support for the shared vulnerability hypothesis. Neither trauma exposure nor preexisting family adversity accounted for the link between PTSD symptoms and later substance use problems. These results add to a growing body of literature in support of the self-medication hypothesis. Findings extend previous research by showing that PTSD symptoms may influence the development of alcohol and drug problems over and above the influence of trauma exposure itself, preexisting family risk factors, and baseline levels of substance use.
ContributorsHaller, Moira (Author) / Chassin, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Pina, Armando (Committee member) / Tein, Jenn-Yun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The emotional enhancement of memory (EEM) has consistently suggested that memory performance is enhanced for positively and negatively valenced stimuli. Heightened arousal and activation of the noradrenergic system facilitates encoding and the formation of memory traces. However, this EEM can become maladaptive when coupled with the heightened noradrenergic activity associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This heightened noradrenergic response can result in chronic intrusive memories of past traumatic events. This study aims to explore overall recall, retrieval dynamics, output editing, and intrusions as a function of emotional content and prior history with traumatic experiences. Undergraduate students (N=249) from Arizona State University completed a battery surveys measuring PTSD symptomatology and other related constructs including anxiety, depression, and trauma. Participants then completed a memory task, an externalized free recall task for multiple study-blocks utilizing word list stimuli. During recall, participants were instructed to report every word that came to mind regardless of whether it was present or not in the most recent study-block, then make a judgment about recent-list membership. Main effects of valence were found for recall accuracy, intrusion generation, and successful editing. This suggests that the emotional enhancement of memory does in fact play a role in intrusion generation and the ability to edit out false recollections. Only depression levels resulted in a significant interaction effect with valence, specifically when measuring intrusion generation. This suggests that trauma level does not play a significant role in emotional intrusion memory.
ContributorsDziendziel, Hailey K (Author) / Brewer, Gene A (Thesis advisor) / Azuma, Tamiko (Committee member) / Lewis, Candace (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023