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Killing versus witnessing in combat trauma and reports of PTSD symptoms and domestic violence
Author(s) -
Van Winkle Elizabeth P.,
Safer Martin A.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.20614
Subject(s) - spouse , psychiatry , adversary , posttraumatic stress , psychology , injury prevention , suicide prevention , occupational safety and health , mental health , poison control , military personnel , human factors and ergonomics , clinical psychology , medicine , medical emergency , computer security , pathology , sociology , anthropology , computer science , political science , law
Active participation in combat trauma increased reports of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms over passive witnessing of trauma. Using archival data from 376 U.S. soldiers who took part in the family interview component of the 1988 National Vietnam Veteran Readjustment Study (NVVRS), findings are that even after statistically accounting for witnessing combat trauma, U.S. soldiers who likely killed enemy soldiers in combat reported elevated levels of PTSD symptoms. Both inference and direct self‐reports were used to measure killing in combat, and both measures accounted equally well for variance in PTSD symptoms. The likelihood of a soldier killing enemy combatants was also weakly related to his spouse's report of physical domestic violence in the past year. Diagnosing the mental health symptoms of combat soldiers should specifically assess whether they actively participated in wounding or killing the enemy.