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Posttraumatic Stress and Stigma in Active‐Duty Service Members Relate to Lower Likelihood of Seeking Support
Author(s) -
Blais Rebecca K.,
Renshaw Keith D.,
Jakupcak Matthew
Publication year - 2014
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.21888
Subject(s) - psychology , active duty , social support , service member , help seeking , posttraumatic stress , clinical psychology , dysphoria , stigma (botany) , mental health , psychiatry , social psychology , military personnel , anxiety , political science , law
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common mental health concern for returning service members. Social support is a robust predictor of resiliency and recovery from PTSD; however, barriers to seeking support are understudied. PTSD and anticipated enacted stigma from family and friends were explored as correlates of the likelihood of seeking support among 153 Iraq/Afghanistan U.S. service members. Results showed that PTSD ( r = −.31, p < .001) and anticipated enacted stigma ( r = −.22, p ≤ .01) were negatively associated with likelihood of seeking support. Post hoc analyses showed that only dysphoria ( r = −.32, p < .001) was significantly related to the likelihood of seeking support after accounting for anticipated enacted stigma and other PTSD clusters. Implications of these findings and ways to increase likelihood of seeking support are discussed.