Women Vietnam Veterans: Do PTSD Symptoms Mediate Effects of Warzone Service on Health?

Overview

Journal Res Hum Dev

Date 2012 Sep 18

PMID 22984348

Citations 2

Authors

Anica Pless Kaiser

Avron Spiro 3rd

Lewina Onyi Lee

Jeanne Mager Stellman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

We assessed the impact of warzone stress on the physical and mental health functioning and well-being of 975 female nurse veterans who had been deployed to Vietnam, and examined whether PTSD symptoms at the time of the survey mediated these relations. A questionnaire was mailed to the Women's Vietnam Memorial Project members, approximately 25 - 30 years after their wartime service. We examined current physical and mental health functioning in relation to several measures of warzone stress and PTSD symptoms, adjusting for age, length of military service, and current physical health problems. Using regression models, we evaluated whether current PTSD symptoms mediated the effects of warzone stress on mental and physical health. Findings suggested that PTSD symptoms did mediate the relationship between warzone stress and mental, but not physical, health functioning in later life. These findings suggest that among women nurses deployed to Vietnam, the effects of warzone stress many years earlier on current functioning and well-being are both direct and indirect, mediated by PTSD symptoms. The legacy of wartime deployment remains, although muted in its expression, in military nurses nearly 30 years after their return.

Citing Articles

Prenatal maternal stress and offspring aggressive behavior: Intergenerational and transgenerational inheritance.

Mbiydzenyuy N, Hemmings S, Qulu L Front Behav Neurosci. 2022; 16:977416.

PMID: 36212196 PMC: 9539686. DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.977416.

Women at war: The crucible of Vietnam.

Pless Kaiser A, Kabat D, Spiro 3rd A, Davison E, Stellman J SSM Popul Health. 2018; 3:236-244.

PMID: 29349221 PMC: 5769013. DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2017.01.003.

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