Abstract
Drunk driving is a fatal and reoccurring public health problem that is often the result of substance abuse. A prominent form of childhood trauma includes having a caregiver who is an alcoholic. Individuals exposed to this type of trauma tend to seek maladaptive coping mechanisms to deal with past and reoccurring trauma. There is little research on the effects of childhood trauma and problem drinking behavior such as drunk driving in adulthood. This quantitative study analyzed secondary data derived from the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to determine if Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are associated with drunk driving in adulthood. Two Chi-Square tests of independence were conducted to determine if there is a relationship between any ACES and drunk driving in adulthood and whether there is a relationship between the number of ACEs in childhood and any drunk driving within the past year. This study revealed that approximately 66% of participants reported experiencing an ACE. In addition, 52.9% reported drunk driving. Test results indicated that both any ACEs and number of ACEs were significantly related to drunk driving. However, the relationship between the number of ACEs and drunk driving was not linear. Because childhood trauma has an impact on public health determinants including drunk driving it is important for social workers to be trauma-informed so they may be professionally equipped to prevent negative health outcomes resulting from trauma.