Marital intimacy,family support,and secondary traumatization: A study of wives of veterans with combat stress reaction

Abstract

The main aim of the study was to assess the role of family variables in the process of secondary traumatization among wives of post-traumatic veterans. We compared a sample of 49 wives of Israeli veterans with combat stress reaction (CSR) from the 1982 Lebanon War with a sample of 31 wives of Israeli veterans who fought in the war without developing CSR. We assessed their psychological reactions to the war, their health status six years later, and their reported levels of marital intimacy and family support after the war. When compared with controls, wives of veterans with CSR reported more negative emotions and lower perceived intimacy after the war, and greater severity of psychiatric and somatic symptoms six years later. Results also indicate that the greater the perceived marital intimacy, the less the negative emotions wives of veterans with CSR felt after the war and the better their health status six years later. In addition, wives of veterans with CSR who reported having received more support from their families after the war reported more anxiety and hostility than wives who received less support. The roles of marital intimacy and family support in the process of secondary traumatization were discussed.     

Causal attribution,coping strategies,and combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder

The present study assesses the intervening role of ways of coping in mediating the effects of causal attribution for negative events on combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The sample consisted of Israeli soldiers who suffered a combat stress reaction episode during the 1982 Lebanon War and were followed 2 and 3 years after their participation in combat. The results showed that an attribution of negative events to stable and uncontrollable causes was associated with both a more frequent use of emotion-focused coping and a less frequent use of problem-focused coping. It was also found that emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping were more direct antecedents of combat-related PTSD than causal attribution. Finally, it was found that the association between causal attribution and combat-related PTSD was mediated by variations in emotion-focused coping. The discussion attempts to integrate theoretical notions derived from attributional models and Lazarus and Folkman's stress-coping model.     

The Role of Religious Orientations in Youth’s Posttraumatic Symptoms After Exposure to Terror

This study examined the effect of religiosity on youth’s posttraumatic symptoms resulting from exposure to terror. Participants consisted of 1,973 Israeli high school students. Objective and subjective exposure (fear) to terror were positively associated with posttraumatic symptoms. Intrinsic religiosity was negatively associated with posttraumatic symptoms and found to decrease the effects of objective exposure. Personal extrinsic orientation and social extrinsic orientation were positively associated with posttraumatic symptoms, having no mediating effect. Theoretical implications regarding religiosity as a coping mechanism in light of exposure to terror are discussed.