Violence, PTSD Symptoms & Substance Use

(This research was funded by National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse R03 DA17668 to Dr. Sullivan)

The broad, long-term objective of this research was to develop a knowledge base to influence practice and policy for the prevention and treatment of substance use among women who experience posttraumatic stress symptomatology related to intimate partner violence (IPV). An initial objective of this project was to document, in a community sample of women, the comorbidity of substance use disorders and PTSD resulting from IPV. A second objective was to test a series of hypotheses that examined the relationships of selected risk and protective factors to posttraumatic stress symptomatology related to IPV and substance use. A third objective was to explore the extent to which DSM-IV IPV-PTSD symptom clusters differentially predicted substance use, and how these relationships were mediated by risk and protective factors.

• Sullivan, T.P., Hellmuth, J.C., Dudley, D.N., Holt, L.J., Mazure, C.M., & McKee, S.A. (in press). Correlates of Smoking Status among Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence: Substance Use, Posttraumatic Stress, and Coping. American Journal on Addictions.
• Overstreet, N.M., Willie, T. Hellmuth, J.C., & Sullivan, T.P. (in press). Psychological intimate partner violence and sexual risk behavior: Examining the role of distinct PTSD symptoms in the partner violence-sexual risk link. Women’s Health Issues.
• Jaquier, V. E., Hellmuth, J., & Sullivan, T.P. (2014). Fear of Past Abusive Partner(S) Impacts Current Posttraumatic Stress Among Women Experiencing Partner Violence. Violence Against Women. PMCID: NIHMSID 544021
• Peters, E., Khondkaryan, E. & Sullivan, T. P. (2012) Associations with substance-related expectancies in women who are exposed to intimate partner violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27 2108-2127. PMCID: PMC3646585
• Golder, S., Connell, C. & Sullivan, T. P. (2012) Psychological Distress and Substance Use Among Community-Recruited Women Currently Victimized by Intimate Partners: A Latent Class Analysis and Examination of Between-Class Differences . Violence Against Women, 18, 934-957. PMCID:23008429 PMCID: PMC3627734
• Jaquier, V. E., Hellmuth, J., & Sullivan, T.P. (2013) Posttraumatic stress and depression symptoms as correlates of deliberate self-harm among community women experiencing intimate partner violence. Psychiatry Research, 206(1), 37–42. PMCID: PMC3594077
• Sullivan, T. P., Schroeder, J. A., Dudley, D. N., & Dixon, J. M. (2010). Do differing typesof victimization and coping strategiesinfluence the type of social reactions experienced by current victims of intimate partner violence, Violence Against Women,16, 638-657. PMCID: PMC2976477
• Sullivan, T. P., Titus, J. A., Holt, L. J., Swan, S.C., Fisher, B.S., Snow, D. L. (2010). Does the Inclusion Criterion of Women’s Aggression as Opposed to Their Victimization Result in Different Samples of Women? Violence Against Women, 16, 84-98. PMCID: PMC2967017
• Cavanaugh, C. E. Hansen, N. B., & Sullivan, T.P. (2010). HIV sexual risk behavior among low-income women experiencing intimate partner violence: The role of posttraumatic stress disorder. AIDS and Behavior, 14, 318-327. PMCID: PMC2866623
• Sullivan, T. P., Cavanaugh, C. E., Buckner, J. D. and Edmondson, D. (2009). Testing posttraumatic stress as a mediator of physical, sexual, and psychological intimate partner violence and substance problems among women. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 22, 575-584. PMCID: PMC3012603
• Sullivan, T.P. & Holt, L.J. (2008). PTSD symptom clusters are differentially related to substance use among community women exposed to intimate partner violence. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 21 (2) 173-180.