Violence and post-traumatic stress disorder in reserve and national guard service members

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.