Mission-Related and Interpersonal Deployment Stressors Among Army National Guard Women Veterans

Background/Purpose: Research has shown that mission-related and interpersonal deployment stressors have differential effects on posttraumatic stress symptoms among Vietnam and Gulf War veterans (Vogt, Pless, King, & King, 2005; Vogt, Sampler, King, King, & Martin, 2008). This study examined the association between mission-related and interpersonal deployment stressors and posttraumatic stress symptoms among Army National Guard (ARNG) women who deployed in support of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF).

Methods: This cross-sectional study is part of a larger study in which disproportionate stratified random sampling was used to select women who were members of the ARNG in three Mid-Atlantic States during their OEF/OIF deployments. During January and February 2009, 420 self-administered questionnaires were mailed using a modified Tailored Design Method (TDM; Dillman, 2007). One hundred thirty-two surveys were returned, yielding 37% response rate. Of the 132 participants, 101 women deployed in support of OEF/OIF. As a result, 101 cases were included in the analyses. In this study, six subscales from the Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory (King et al., 2003) were used to assess mission-related (i.e., deployment concerns, combat experiences, aftermath of battle experiences) and interpersonal (i.e., concerns about life and family disruptions, general harassment, sexual harassment)deployment stressors. The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Military (Weathers et al., 1993) was used to assess posttraumatic stress symptom severity. Age was a control variable.

Results: Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that mission-related deployment stressors accounted for more of the variance in posttraumatic stress symptom severity than interpersonal deployment stressors. After controlling for age, concerns about life and family disruptions and combat exposures were positively associated with posttraumatic stress symptom severity. Regression analyses examining the cumulative effect of mission-related and interpersonal deployment stressors further revealed that, after controlling for age, combat and aftermath of battle exposures uniquely contributed to the development of severe posttraumatic stress symptoms over and above other types of deployment stressors. Specifically, the more combat and aftermath of battle exposures an ARNG woman experienced, the more severe her posttraumatic stress symptoms.

Conclusions/Implications: Findings suggest that during military deployments, it is important to assess ARNG women for family, interpersonal, and employment stressors that may impact the individual and family system. Assessment of life and family stressors prior to military deployments is also vital because they have the potential to negatively impact ARNG women's adjustment to deployment stress. Findings underscore the continued need for ARNG family, mental health, and reintegration programs to assess coping, emotional appraisals, and adjustment to recent deployments among military families, as well as the provision of supportive services to alleviate life and family stressors throughout military deployments. Although low levels of combat and aftermath of battle exposures were reported by ARNG women in this study, findings further suggest the need for focused mental health services during deployment to assess traumatic stress immediately following combat and post-battle exposures, as well as up to three years post-deployment. Future mixed methods research is needed to further explore deployment experiences of ARNG women, and replicate findings in a larger, national sample of ARNG men and women.