Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash.

Research

Soldiers Deployed to a War Zone Adversely Affects Intimate Partners, Long after the Service Member has Returned Home

Mental health prevention and treatment for at risk populations should include the health and well-being of family members.

Military conflict has led to heightened risk of cognitive problems in performing day-to-day activities among some war zone Veterans, which can result in increased burden on family members.

In a new study, researchers have found deployment to a combat zone may adversely affect not only service members but their intimate partners, with such effects enduring long after the service member has returned home. Specifically, this finding was attributable to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with symptoms including difficulty with memory and concentration among other symptoms.

“Prolonged stress may contribute to the later development of caregiver burden, negative mental health outcomes for the intimate partner and poor relationship quality with their partners. Understanding risk factors for partner stress, including changes over time in war zone Veteran’s cognitive functioning, is therefore warranted,” explains corresponding author Jennifer Vasterling, PhD, chief of psychology at VA Boston Healthcare System and professor of psychiatry at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.

The researchers followed a nationally dispersed sample of U.S. Army soldiers from before their first deployment to the Iraq War across a period that spanned an average of eight years from when they returned administering a four-item version of the Medical Outcomes Study Cognitive Functioning scale to measure self-perception of cognitive-related functioning. Their partners were administered the Everyday Stressors Index—a 20-item self-report measurement that has been used within military deployment contexts to evaluate the impact of the day-to-day stressors experienced by family members of deployed individuals.  These stress indicators include role overload, employment problems and parenting worries five years after their return from deployment.

In studying war zone Veterans from pre-deployment to an assessment eight years later, researchers found that a decline in Veterans’ self-reported cognitive functioning in day-to-day activities was associated with higher levels of stress among their intimate partners.

According to the researchers, better understanding of the nature of war zone Veterans’ psychological symptoms, cognitive-related functional difficulties, and partner stress will help mitigate difficulties for both war zone Veterans and their partners. “While this research was built around a military sample, it speaks to the broader potential negative impacts of trauma exposure, not only to the person experiencing PTSD, but also on their family and suggests the need to provide support to family members of people experiencing PTSD.”

These findings appear online in the journal Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.