THE RELATION BETWEEN CHILDHOOD TRAUMA, PTSD, SLEEP, AND DECISION MAKING IN YOUNG ADULTS

Abstract

The current study assessed the relationship between childhood trauma, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms (PTSD) and total sleep time as predictors of real world risk-taking (i.e., overall risky behavior, recklessness, alcohol misuse, risky sexual behavior, gambling, and drug use) and risk-taking assessed by a novel One-Shot Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Our sample was 199 college students from a large Southwestern university, with an average age of 19.37 years (SD=2.58) participated in this online cross-sectional study. Childhood trauma and PTSD symptoms were both significant predictors of risky sexual behaviors; PTSD symptoms predicted overall recklessness and drug use behaviors; total sleep did not independently predict any real-world risk-taking behaviors. There was a significant three-way interaction between childhood trauma, total sleep time, and PTSD symptoms as a predictor of alcohol misuse. The One-Shot BART was significantly associated with alcohol misuse and gambling. Childhood trauma, but not PTSD symptoms or total sleep time, predicted risk-taking on the One-Shot BART. These results indicate that addressing childhood trauma and PTSD symptoms, such as recklessness, risky sexual behavior, and substance use, could potentially circumvent negative outcomes from risky behaviors. These results indicate our One-Shot BART is an ecologically valid tool that is associated with real-world risk and with trauma history. These findings illustrate potential for use of the One-Shot BART in lab based paradigms to assess neurobehavioral differences clinical populations.