Premium
Consistency of Reporting for Stressful Life Events Among Nondeployed Soldiers
Author(s) -
Pless Kaiser Anica,
Proctor Susan P.,
Vasterling Jennifer J.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.22311
Subject(s) - psychology , consistency (knowledge bases) , mental health , military personnel , clinical psychology , self report study , psychiatry , geometry , mathematics , political science , law
Objectives Measurement of stress exposure is central to understanding military mental health outcomes. Although temporal stability of combat event reporting has been examined, less is known about the stability of reporting for noncombat events in military samples. Objectives are to examine consistency in reporting stressful life events in nondeployed U.S. Army soldiers and its association with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology. Method Examined reporting consistency over approximately 8 months among 466 soldiers. Regression models examined factors associated with decreased, increased, and stable reporting. Results Stability of the number of events endorsed over time was high. However, item‐level agreement was slight to moderate (kappas: .13–.54), with inconsistencies due primarily to decreased reporting. After adjusting for covariates and initial PTSD, second assessment PTSD was associated with increased and stable reporting. Conclusions Inconsistent reporting extends beyond combat events to other stressful life events in military personnel and is associated with PTSD.