282859
Violence and post-traumatic stress disorder in reserve and national guard service members
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
: 3:14 p.m. - 3:32 p.m.
Sujit D Rathod, PhD,
Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom
Gregory Cohen,
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Robert Ursano, MD,
Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress/Department of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD
Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH,
Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY
Little is known about how common problems controlling violent behavior are among military service members. Most studies on aggression in military populations have been conducted with male veterans in treatment for psychosocial problems. Past research has linked problems with aggression and violence to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We aimed to expand current knowledge by conducting a cross-sectional study with a representative sample of current service members to estimate the prevalence of problems with violence and to examine the relations between these problems and PTSD. Using log-Poisson regression models, we examined these relations among men and women and separately analyzed the co-occurrence of problems with violence and PTSD in service members with PTSD stemming from deployment-related vs. civilian-related events. In a random, representative sample of Reserve and National Guard forces (n = 1,293), we found that the prevalence of problems with violence was low among male (3.0%) and female (1.6%) reservists. Among men we found significant associations of both civilian- and deployment-related PTSD with problems with violence (adjusted Prevalence Ratios were 8.8 (95% CI 3.5 21.7) and 11.6 (95% CI 4.7 29.1), respectively). Associations were also documented between PTSD symptom severity and problems with violence. We discuss the implications of these findings and future research objectives.
Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences
Learning Objectives:
Describe the prevalence of problems with violence in Reserve and National Guard service members
Explain the association between problems with violence and posttraumatic stress disorder in Reserve and National Guard service members
Keyword(s): Violence, War
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I conducted the research and analyses contained in this presentation. My research has primarily been in conflict or post-conflict countries, I have had the opportunity to work in several countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe. I have been also working with young mothers who were child soldiers since 2003
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
