Evaluation of a 20-Item Version of the Trauma-Related Drinking to Cope Questionnaire

This study sought to develop and psychometrically evaluate an expanded version of the Trauma-Related Drinking to Cope (TRD) scale, a four-item self-report tool, which was developed to address a crucial gap in self-medication research. Before the development of the TRD, no measures existed which assessed alcohol use for coping with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) specifically. Previous work showed that the TRD has strong psychometric properties and clinical utility in its ability to identify individuals with PTSD who may be at risk for developing comorbid alcohol use disorder (AUD). The aim of the present study was to develop and test a comprehensive, 20-item version of the TRD ("TRD-20"), which assesses drinking to cope with each of the 20 DSM-5 symptoms of PTSD.

We piloted the 20-item TRD measure among a diverse sample of 555 trauma-exposed undergraduates who use alcohol (M_age = 23.29, SD = 7.29; 49.5% white; 79.3% woman-identifying).

A four factor model indexing drinking to cope with symptoms aligning with the four PTSD symptom clusters fit the data well (χ²(164) = 355.67, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.950; TLI = 0.942; RMSEA = 0.046), with all standardized factor loadings exceeding 0.8. We also found strong evidence supporting the construct and criterion validity of the TRD-20, specifically in relation to existing measures of drinking coping motives, PTSD symptoms, alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related problems.

These findings highlight the TRD-20 as a useful measure for determining an individual's PTSD-specific drinking motives, which carries implications for improving understanding and treatment of PTSD-AUD comorbidity.