Distress in spouses of Vietnam veterans: Associations with communication about deployment experiences
Research SummaryAPA Citation:
Campbell, S. B., & Renshaw, K. D. (2012). Distress in spouses of Vietnam veterans: Associations with communication about deployment experiences. Journal of Family Psychology, 26(1), 18-25. doi:10.1037/a0026680
Abstract Created by REACH:
Vietnam Veterans and their partners participated in a study that investigated the relationship between partner psychological well-being and relationship functioning with Veterans’ sharing about their Vietnam experiences. Couples’ general communication factored more heavily in partner relationship satisfaction than did communication about Vietnam.
Focus:
Couples
Mental health
Veterans
Branch of Service:
Multiple branches
Subject Affiliation:
Spouse of service member or veteran
Veteran
Population:
Adulthood (18 yrs & older)
Aged (65 yrs & older)
Middle age (40 - 64 yrs)
Thirties (30 - 39 yrs)
Young adulthood (18 - 29 yrs)
Methodology:
Empirical Study
Quantitative Study
Cross-Sectional Study
Authors:
Campbell, Sarah B., Renshaw, Keith D.
Abstract:
Emerging literature shows a consistent pattern of relationship and psychological distress in spouses or partners of combat veterans with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One possible mechanism of partners' distress posited in clinical literature is that excessive discussion of traumatic events from deployment may have negative effects on partners. At the extreme, some partners are suggested to develop PTSD-like symptoms, or secondary traumatic stress. Despite these hypotheses, there have been few empirical tests of the effects of communicating about such events. In a sample of 465 combat veterans and their spouses who participated in the Family Interview Component of the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, we explored how the extent of couples' deployment-related communication was associated with partner relationships and psychological distress, and whether such associations were moderated by the severity of veterans' PTSD symptoms. Results showed that Vietnam-specific communication correlated negatively with relationship distress, but the effect was negligible after controlling for overall communication in the relationship. On the other hand, Vietnam-specific communication did not correlate with psychological distress, but the association was significantly moderated by veterans' PTSD symptom severity. Specifically, communication about Vietnam was increasingly and positively associated with partners' psychological distress as veterans' symptoms of PTSD rose into the clinical range, but nonsignificantly and negatively associated with such distress as PTSD symptoms decreased below this level. The findings support previous clinical recommendations that couples' discussions of potentially traumatic events be approached cautiously, and they suggest a need to attend to the content of couples' communications when conducting dyadic interventions for PTSD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Publisher/Sponsoring Organization:
American Psychological Association
Publication Type:
Article
REACH Publication
Author Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, George Mason University, SBC
Department of Psychology, George Mason University, KDR
Keywords:
military deployment, spouses, adult, female, humans, male, middle aged, stress, military personnel, veterans, united states, deployment, distress, marital relations, military veterans, posttraumatic stress disorder, symptoms, aged, communication, marital relationship, posttraumatic, psychiatric status rating scales, psychological tests, regression analysis, stress disorders, vietnam conflict, vietnam veterans, war, young adult
REACH Publication Type:
Research Summary