Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy最新文献

{"title":"Subtypes of childhood maltreatment and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in an adult trauma sample: The mechanistic role of sleep.","authors":"Farah Harb, Alexandra González-Van Wart, John Brzezinski, Terri A deRoon-Cassini, Christine L Larson","doi":"10.1037/tra0001716","DOIUrl":"10.1037/tra0001716","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Childhood maltreatment is indisputably linked to adverse mental health outcomes, including an increased risk to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adulthood. The role of childhood maltreatment in the context of recovery from a trauma later in adulthood is not well understood. A variable related to both childhood maltreatment and PTSD symptoms, and a potential link between the two, is sleep. The current study aimed to understand how sleep disturbances may play a mechanistic role in the effect of subtypes of childhood maltreatment on PTSD symptom severity in an adult trauma sample.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>160 adults (90 women; <i>M</i>_age = 33.73, <i>SD</i> = 10.86) were recruited from the emergency department at a Level-1 trauma center in southeastern Wisconsin after experiencing a traumatic injury. Experiences of childhood maltreatment and sleep were self-reported at 2-week and 3-month posttrauma, respectively. PTSD symptoms were clinically assessed 6 months later.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Sleep disturbances 3-month posttrauma mediated the effect of emotional abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect on PTSD symptom 6 months after the traumatic injury. The effect of sexual and physical abuse on PTSD symptoms was not significantly mediated by sleep disturbances.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These findings highlight the differential impact of subtypes of childhood maltreatment on PTSD symptoms, the mechanistic role of sleep, and the need to consider early life adversity when assessing adult posttrauma experiences. These results also suggest that interventions aimed at improving sleep quality might improve PTSD symptoms in those who have experienced childhood maltreatment and a subsequent traumatic injury in adulthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":20982,"journal":{"name":"Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy","volume":" ","pages":"353-362"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11931973/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140871348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Influence of betrayal trauma on obsessive-compulsive personality pathology.","authors":"Matthew M Yalch, Margaret Froehlich","doi":"10.1037/tra0001595","DOIUrl":"10.1037/tra0001595","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is among the most common forms of personality pathology. Research suggests that among the risk factors for OCPD pathology is trauma, although it is unclear which kinds of trauma are most influential. Of particular relevance may be trauma high in interpersonal betrayal, which research suggests has a unique association with many different forms of personality pathology. However, this has not yet been examined for OCPD specifically.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>In this study, we examined the differential associations between trauma with varying levels of betrayal and OCPD pathology in a sample of women and men recruited online (<i>N</i> = 300) using a Bayesian approach to structural equation modeling.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Results suggest that although general interpersonal trauma was associated with OCPD across the sample, interpersonal trauma high in betrayal was uniquely associated with OCPD for men.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings have implications for future research on the influence of trauma and personality pathology as well as for the treatment of OCPD specifically. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":20982,"journal":{"name":"Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy","volume":" ","pages":"274-278"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41165517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Machine learning models predict PTSD severity and functional impairment: A personalized medicine approach for uncovering complex associations among heterogeneous symptom profiles.","authors":"Anna H Park, Herry Patel, James Mirabelli, Stephanie J Eder, David Steyrl, Brigitte Lueger-Schuster, Frank Scharnowski, Charlene O'Connor, Patrick Martin, Ruth A Lanius, Margaret C McKinnon, Andrew A Nicholson","doi":"10.1037/tra0001602","DOIUrl":"10.1037/tra0001602","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating psychiatric illness, experienced by approximately 10% of the population. Heterogeneous presentations that include heightened dissociation, comorbid anxiety and depression, and emotion dysregulation contribute to the severity of PTSD, in turn, creating barriers to recovery. There is an urgent need to use data-driven approaches to better characterize complex psychiatric presentations with the aim of improving treatment outcomes. We sought to determine if machine learning models could predict PTSD-related illness in a real-world treatment-seeking population using self-report clinical data.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Secondary clinical data from 2017 to 2019 included pretreatment measures such as trauma-related symptoms, other mental health symptoms, functional impairment, and demographic information from adults admitted to an inpatient unit for PTSD in Canada (n = 393). We trained two nonlinear machine learning models (extremely randomized trees) to identify predictors of (a) PTSD symptom severity and (b) functional impairment. We assessed model performance based on predictions in novel subsets of patients.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Approximately 43% of the variance in PTSD symptom severity (<i>R</i>²_avg = .43, <i>R</i>²_median = .44, <i>p</i> = .001) was predicted by symptoms of anxiety, dissociation, depression, negative trauma-related beliefs about others, and emotion dysregulation. In addition, 32% of the variance in functional impairment scores (<i>R</i>²_avg = .32, <i>R</i>²_median = .33, <i>p</i> = .001) was predicted by anxiety, PTSD symptom severity, cognitive dysfunction, dissociation, and depressive symptoms.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our results reinforce that dissociation, cooccurring anxiety and depressive symptoms, maladaptive trauma appraisals, cognitive dysfunction, and emotion dysregulation are critical targets for trauma-related interventions. Machine learning models can inform personalized medicine approaches to maximize trauma recovery in real-world inpatient populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":20982,"journal":{"name":"Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy","volume":" ","pages":"372-386"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138446066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Morally injurious events and posttraumatic embitterment disorder in U.K. health and social care professionals during COVID-19: A longitudinal web survey.","authors":"Chloe J Brennan, Michael T McKay, Jon C Cole","doi":"10.1037/tra0001723","DOIUrl":"10.1037/tra0001723","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To longitudinally estimate the prevalence and predictors of potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) and posttraumatic embitterment disorder (PTED) and in U.K. health and social care workers (HSCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, to investigate the mechanism by which PMIEs increase embitterment by lowering personal belief in procedural justice, that is, the belief that they experience fair processes.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>An online longitudinal survey was hosted on Qualtrics between September-October 2020 and September-November 2021. Using Prolific, 400 HSCWs aged 18 or above and working in the United Kingdom during the pandemic were recruited. PMIEs were assessed using the Moral Injury Events Scale, and PTED was assessed using the PTED self-rating scale. Potential predictors were measured using surveys of exposure to occupational stressors, optimism, pessimism, self-esteem, resilient coping style, consideration of future consequences, and personal just world beliefs.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Seventy-one percent of participants experienced at least one COVID-related PMIE and 20% displayed clinically relevant signs of PTED at Time 2 in 2021. Exposure to occupational stressors increased the risk of experiencing PMIEs and PTED, whereas personal belief in a procedurally just world protected against transgressions by others and betrayal PMIEs. Self-esteem was protective, and a resilient coping style was a risk for experiencing betrayal. PMIEs increased embitterment by lowering personal belief in procedural justice over a 12-month period.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>PMIEs and PTED are being experienced by U.K. HSCWs in 2020 and 2021, particularly in those exposed to work-related stressors. Exposure to PMIEs increases the risk of embitterment by lowering belief in procedural justice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":20982,"journal":{"name":"Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy","volume":" ","pages":"264-273"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141458904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social maltreatment as trauma: Posttraumatic correlates of a new measure of exposure to sexism, racism, and cisheterosexism.","authors":"John Briere, Marsha Runtz, Keara Rodd","doi":"10.1037/tra0001636","DOIUrl":"10.1037/tra0001636","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Maltreatment based on race, sex, or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or other sexual and gender minorities (LGBTQ+) status is a significant life stressor, potentially independent of whether it can be categorized as a <i>Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders</i>, fifth edition, text revision (DSM-5-TR) trauma. Yet there is a relative lack of research systematically examining these events, their intersectionality, and links to posttraumatic stress (PTS). The purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive measure of social discrimination and maltreatment (SDM) and to examine whether these events can serve as potential traumatic stressors, above-and-beyond classic trauma exposure.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A 36-item Social Discrimination and Maltreatment Scale (SDMS), consisting of three subscales (sexism, racism, and cisheterosexism) and a total score, was developed and validated in a sample of 528 adults.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The SDMS and its subscales were internally consistent (αs from .95 to .97) and demonstrated factorial validity in two subsamples (<i>n</i>s = 265 and 263). Marginalized groups each endorsed the most relevant SDMS subscale (e.g., people of color reporting more racism and women reporting more sexism). The total SDM score was associated with PTS even when controlling for general trauma exposure, and there was a linear relationship between the number of elevated SDMS subscales and PTS scores.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Although not considered traumatic in the <i>DSM-5-TR,</i> exposure to sexism, racism, and cisheterosexism may be significant sources of PTS. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":20982,"journal":{"name":"Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy","volume":" ","pages":"387-395"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139513552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Healing strategies of women who experienced sexual assault: A mixed method analysis.","authors":"Raina V Lamade, Elise C Lopez, Samantha Calias, Elizabeth J Anderson, Mary P Koss","doi":"10.1037/tra0001766","DOIUrl":"10.1037/tra0001766","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>The primary objective of this study was to identify healing strategies directly from women who experienced sexual assault and sexual exploitation. The second objective was to explore secondary themes related to healing from sexual assault. This study included two quantitative objectives. The first was to examine if the frequency of reported sexual assault experienced predicted greater coping strategies and if rape that occurred in juvenile years and during college uniquely predicted reported use of more coping strategies.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Using a mix-method design of college women who endorsed experiencing unwanted sexual contact as part of a survey, 283 provided details about healthy healing strategies. Qualitative responses were transcribed verbatim, and thematic classification followed an iterative process. Linear regressions were used to examine the relationships between sexual assault frequency and use of coping strategies.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The most frequently endorsed categories as being helpful to one's healing were social support, proactive behavioral strategies, forgetting/ignoring/shifting focus, positive cognitive strategies, and counseling. Other themes related to healing included long-term effects, unsuccessful strategies, and posttraumatic growth. Secondary themes include validation, denial of/modified recognition of sexual assault, and specific campus environmental factors. Individuals who reported more sexual assault reported using more healing strategies.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study underscores the benefits of social support and specific strategies. Results suggest a positive relationship between the number of unwanted sexual experiences and coping strategies utilized. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":20982,"journal":{"name":"Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy","volume":" ","pages":"279-288"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142018461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Associations of war-related PTSD symptoms with sleep disturbance: The explanatory roles of emotion regulation difficulties and intolerance of uncertainty.","authors":"Mehdi Zemestani, Sarchya R Hasan, Pegah A M Seidi, Jafar Bakhshaie, Gordon J G Asmundson","doi":"10.1037/tra0001808","DOIUrl":"10.1037/tra0001808","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Although associations between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and sleep disturbance are well-established, relatively little work has examined mechanisms that may underlie this association. This study aimed to examine the explanatory role of emotion regulation difficulties and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) in associations between PTSD symptoms and sleep disturbance among a sample of war-exposed Iraqi individuals.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>We used structural equation modeling in a war-exposed nonclinical sample (<i>N</i> = 617; <i>M</i>_age = 27.63; <i>SD</i> = 4.81; 46.03% females) to model indirect effects from PTSD symptoms to the sleep disturbance via emotion regulation difficulties and IU. Participants completed PTSD symptoms, sleep disturbance, difficulties in emotion regulation, and IU scales.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Significant correlations were found between PTSD symptoms and sleep disturbance. Those who reported higher levels of PTSD symptoms also reported higher levels of sleep disturbance. The structural model was an excellent fit to the data (χ² = 166.03; degrees of freedom = 32; comparative fit index = .960; goodness-of-fit index = .954; Tucker-Lewis index = .943; root-mean-square error of approximation = .082), and all hypothesized indirect effects were significant (<i>p</i>s < .001).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Findings add to the emerging body of literature examining potential mechanisms that may help to explain the maintenance or even escalation of PTSD-related sleep disturbance. Findings have clinical implications in designing specialized treatments for individuals with PTSD and suggest focusing on emotion regulation difficulties and IU as potential therapeutic targets that putatively underlie PTSD-related sleep disturbance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":20982,"journal":{"name":"Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy","volume":" ","pages":"416-428"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142786833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Family caregivers of service members in United States Department of Defense health care report impairment in longitudinal health outcomes.","authors":"Tracey A Brickell, Louis M French, Megan M Wright, Jamie K Sullivan, Brian J Ivins, Nicole V Varbedian, Anice M Byrd, Rael T Lange","doi":"10.1037/tra0001712","DOIUrl":"10.1037/tra0001712","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To examine elevated symptoms on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measures over 2 years in caregivers of service members with traumatic brain injury (TBI). To compare outcomes to caregivers of veterans.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Caregivers (<i>N</i> = 315) were classified into two groups: (a) service member caregiver group (<i>n</i> = 55) and (b) veteran caregiver group (<i>n</i> = 260). Caregivers completed 17 HRQOL measures at a baseline evaluation and follow-up evaluation 24 months later.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In the service member caregiver group, the highest frequency of clinically elevated <i>T</i>-scores (≥ 60 T) at baseline and follow-up were found on physical and psychological HRQOL measures (16.4%-30.9%). A higher proportion of the veteran caregiver group had clinically elevated scores on nine measures at baseline and seven measures at follow-up. Examining the number of clinically elevated scores simultaneously across all 17 measures, the service member caregiver group had multiple elevated scores (e.g., 4 or more: baseline = 25.5%, follow-up = 27.3%). A higher proportion of the veteran caregiver group had multiple clinically elevated scores for 13 comparisons at baseline (<i>h</i> = .35-.82), but reduced to eight comparisons at follow-up (<i>h</i> = .36-.63). In the service member caregiver group, the proportion of caregivers with clinically elevated scores at baseline and follow-up was equally dispersed across persistent and newly developed symptoms, but higher for persistent symptoms compared to developed symptoms in the veteran caregiver group.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Many caregivers of service members reported clinically elevated scores across HRQOL domains and the prevalence increased over 2 years. More services for caregivers in the Department of Defense may be helpful in reducing the trajectory of newly developed symptoms long term. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":20982,"journal":{"name":"Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy","volume":" ","pages":"406-415"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141446902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neural processes of emotional conflict detection and prediction of posttraumatic stress disorder symptom clusters in traumatic injury survivors.","authors":"Kaley E Davis, Carissa W Tomas, E Kate Webb, Ashley A Huggins, Terri A deRoon-Cassini, Christine L Larson, Jacklynn M Fitzgerald","doi":"10.1037/tra0001586","DOIUrl":"10.1037/tra0001586","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Given the prevalence and significant burden of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), identifying early predictors of symptom development following trauma is critical. PTSD is a heterogeneous disorder comprised of distinct symptom clusters-reexperiencing, avoidance, negative mood, and hyperarousal-that contribute to the broad range of possible symptom profiles. Affective and attentional regulation processes, such as emotional conflict detection, are impaired in individuals with PTSD; however, the neural mechanisms underlying these alterations and their predictive utility for the development of PTSD symptoms remain unclear.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Traumatic injury survivors (<i>N</i> = 49) without traumatic brain injury were recruited from the emergency department of an urban, Level-1 trauma center. Within 1 month of trauma exposure, participants completed a well-characterized emotional conflict task during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Participants returned 6-month later for a clinical assessment of PTSD symptoms. Using a region-of-interest mask derived from whole-brain voxelwise analyses during emotional conflict detection (vs. no emotional conflict detection) we examined whether differential neural activity predicted 6-month PTSD symptom cluster severity.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Greater activation of the right middle frontal gyrus during emotional conflict detection prospectively predicted lower PTSD avoidance symptom severity 6 months later (above and beyond the effects of self-reported baseline PTSD and depressive symptoms, previous traumatic life events, racial discrimination, age, sex, and injury severity).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Neural processes of emotion conflict detection measured in the early aftermath of a potentially traumatic event are useful as predictors for the development of PTSD symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":20982,"journal":{"name":"Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy","volume":" ","pages":"323-330"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41238202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Do appraisals of military service indicate current distress in aging Vietnam War combat veterans?","authors":"Anica Pless Kaiser, Christopher B Brady, Avron Spiro","doi":"10.1037/tra0001738","DOIUrl":"10.1037/tra0001738","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Appraisals of military service, both desirable and undesirable, assessed via Elder and Clipp's (1989) scale, are associated with psychological distress in veterans. Aging combat veterans (CV) are at increased risk for posttraumatic stress disorder and other psychological disorders yet may underreport symptoms and not seek treatment that could be beneficial. It is unknown whether desirable and undesirable appraisals of military service are associated with mental health outcomes above and beyond typical risk and protective factors, such as age, education, and combat exposure. Therefore, we examined associations between appraisals of military service and assessments of psychological distress in Vietnam War CV, currently the largest cohort of aging veterans.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Male Vietnam War CV aged 60 and older (<i>n</i> = 134) were selected from a larger study. Regression analyses examined the associations between appraisals of military service and measures of physical and psychological well-being and distress.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Both desirable and undesirable appraisals of military service exhibited associations with measures of psychological distress, with undesirable appraisals being more strongly associated with distress than desirable appraisals. In regression analyses, appraisals were related to mental health outcomes over and above covariates. In addition, appraisals were more strongly related to psychological versus physical well-being measures, with undesirable appraisals more strongly related to mental health and well-being measures than desirable appraisals.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Assessing appraisals of military service may identify veterans experiencing psychological distress who may benefit from referral for psychological interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":20982,"journal":{"name":"Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy","volume":" ","pages":"438-445"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141634284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}