An Examination of Family Adjustment Among Operation Desert Storm Veterans

• Published in: Journal of consulting and clinical psychology Vol. 76; no. 4; pp. 648 - 656
• Main Authors: Taft, Casey T, Schumm, Jeremiah A, Panuzio, Jillian, Proctor, Susan P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-08-2008
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adjustment; Adjustment (to Environment); Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Biological and medical sciences; Combat Disorders - diagnosis; Combat Disorders - psychology; Combat Experience; Correlation; Correlation analysis; Data Analysis; Emotional Adjustment; Exposure; Families & family life; Family Attitudes; Family Relations; Female; Females; Gender Differences; Gulf War; Human; Humans; Indirect effects; Male; Massachusetts; Measures (Individuals); Medical sciences; Military Personnel; Military Veterans; Persian Gulf; Personality Inventory; Post traumatic stress disorder; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Questionnaires; Sex Factors; Statistical Significance; Structural Equation Models; Studies; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Veterans; Veterans - psychology; War; Wars; Massachusetts; United States; North America; America; veterans; combat; family; posttraumatic stress disorder; Social environment; Human; Fighting; Anxiety disorder; Mental health; Sex; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Exposure; Symptomatology; Social interaction; Follow up study; Family environment; Familial relation; Veteran; Public health
• ISSN: 0022-006X; 1939-2117
• DOI: 10.1037/a0012576

This study examined interrelationships among combat exposure, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and family adjustment in a sample of male and female Operation Desert Storm veterans (
N
= 1,512). In structural equation models for both male and female veterans, higher combat exposure was associated with higher PTSD symptoms, which in turn were associated with poorer family adjustment, although these indirect effects did not reach statistical significance. The model for female veterans evidenced a significant direct negative association between combat exposure and family adjustment when it statistically accounted for PTSD symptoms. When the relative impacts of separate PTSD symptom groupings were examined, those reflecting withdrawal/numbing symptoms and arousal/lack of control symptoms significantly and indirectly accounted for the negative effects of combat exposure on family adjustment. Study findings indicate a number of possible pathways through which war-zone deployments negatively impact military families and suggest several avenues for future research.