Investigating Social Support as a Moderator of the Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Problematic Alcohol Use

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACES) increase the risk for problematic alcohol use. However, protective factors, such as social support have been found to buffer against these consequences. The goal of this study was to highlight the connection between ACES and problematic alcohol use. Additionally, the aim was to investigate perceived social support as a moderator between ACES and problematic alcohol use and examine the domains of social support and how they individually moderate the association between ACES and social support. Data were collected using an international online subject pool (n = 350; 88.3% Caucasian, 66.9% female; 87.7% from the United Kingdom). Participants completed a battery of assessments to assess the topics of childhood trauma, perceived social support, and problematic alcohol use. Moderation analyses were used to investigate whether overall social support and the various domains of social support moderated the association between ACES and problematic alcohol use. Findings revealed that perceived family support significantly moderated the connection between ACES and alcohol use, such that the relation between ACES and problematic alcohol use was strongest at higher levels of family support (b = .24, SE = .09, p < .008, 95% CI [.06, .41]). In general, these findings contradict previous literature in that higher levels of family support did not appear to act as a buffer between ACES and problematic drinking. Future work is needed to explore additional factors that could impact the relations between social support, ACES, and problematic drinking.