Publication Date

2026

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Valentiner, David P.

Second Advisor

Wallace, Douglas G.

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) has been found to co-occur in a range of 30% to 50% of individuals diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD. The current study aimed to assess whether this high comorbidity could be partially explained through a shared association with poorer function and reduced volume in the hippocampus. Self-movement cue processing, a behavioral ability previously shown to be associated with hippocampal functioning, was measured through a dead reckoning task (DRT) to test this hypothesis. The current study failed to replicate previous findings between alcohol use and DRT and alcohol use and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Performance on the DRT did not significantly moderate the relationship between alcohol use and PTSS. It is theorized that the insignificant findings were at least partially due to the low number of participants engaging in hazardous alcohol use in the current sample. This finding may be indicative of a drop in the prevalence of hazardous alcohol use in college-aged individuals. It is recommended that the current study be replicated in a population with higher rates of hazardous alcohol use to more adequately test the hypotheses of interest.

Extent

141 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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