Psychological risk and resiliency in female and male military medical personnel across the deployment cycle
Chelsea J. Sterne, Sarah E. Zwetzig, Sarah Vacek, Kiara H. Buccellato, Casey L. Straud, Monty T. Baker, Alyssa R. Ojeda Rogers, Willie J. Hale, Stacey Young-McCaughan, Brian A. Moore, Cynthia L. Lancaster, Richard J. McNally, William C. Isler, Brett T. Litz, Lauren M. Koch, Jim Mintz, Alan L. PetersonBackground
Despite the increasing number of female service members in the US and internationally, previous studies examining gender-specific deployment outcomes are limited due to disproportionate sample sizes. Military medical personnel serve as a promising population to better understand gender-specific military psychological outcomes across a deployment cycle.
Objectives
To evaluate differences in risk factors and psychological health in female and male medical personnel across a combat deployment.
Design
A cross sectional cohort study of medical personnel (48% female) in the United States Air Force deployed to Iraq between 2004 and 2011 assessed predeployment (N = 759), middeployment (N = 902), and postdeployment (N = 270).
Methods
Self-reports of traumatic life events, attitudes about deployment experiences, resilience, posttraumatic growth, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety were collected.
Results
At predeployment, females reported greater exposure to traumatic events (
Conclusions
Female and male medical personnel responded similarly for most deployment-related outcomes. However, some psychological sequalae are higher for females, possibly due to a reduced sense of resiliency prior to deployment and less positive outlook towards the military mission.