IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i3p935-d484867.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mental Health and Psychosocial Functioning in Recently Separated U.S. Women Veterans: Trajectories and Bi-Directional Relationships

Author

Listed:
  • Karen A. Lawrence

    (College of Social Work, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA)

  • Dawne Vogt

    (National Center for PTSD Women’s Health Sciences Division, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA
    Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA)

  • Adam J. Dugan

    (Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA)

  • Shawn Nigam

    (Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA)

  • Emily Slade

    (Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA)

  • Brian N. Smith

    (National Center for PTSD Women’s Health Sciences Division, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA
    Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA)

Abstract

Prior research on the relationship between veterans’ mental health and psychosocial functioning has primarily relied on male samples. Here, we investigated prospective longitudinal relationships between mental health and psychosocial functioning in 554 female Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans who were surveyed three times between two- and seven-years following separation from service. Mixed effects modeling revealed that increasing depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity predicted declines in work functioning. Increasing PTSD severity predicted declining parental functioning and worsening depression predicted a decline in relationship functioning. In turn, decreased work and intimate relationship functioning predicted increased PTSD and depression symptom severity suggesting bi-directional effects between mental health and psychosocial functioning. An examination of the effect of deployment stressors on psychosocial functioning revealed that deployment sexual harassment was the strongest predictor of decreased psychosocial functioning across all domains. Evidence for the reciprocal nature of relationships between mental health and psychosocial functioning underscore the need for treatment targeted at PTSD and depression, as well as work and relationship functioning to improve outcomes for women veterans.

Suggested Citation

  • Karen A. Lawrence & Dawne Vogt & Adam J. Dugan & Shawn Nigam & Emily Slade & Brian N. Smith, 2021. "Mental Health and Psychosocial Functioning in Recently Separated U.S. Women Veterans: Trajectories and Bi-Directional Relationships," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-15, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:3:p:935-:d:484867
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/3/935/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/3/935/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gamache, G. & Rosenheck, R. & Tessler, R., 2003. "Overrepresentation of Women Veterans among Homeless Women," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(7), pages 1132-1136.
    2. Megan E. Sienkiewicz & Aneline Amalathas & Katherine M. Iverson & Brian N. Smith & Karen S. Mitchell, 2020. "Examining the Association between Trauma Exposure and Work-Related Outcomes in Women Veterans," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-16, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sharon Lawn & Elaine Waddell & Louise Roberts & Pilar Rioseco & Tiffany Beks & Tiffany Sharp & Liz McNeill & David Everitt & Lee Bowes & Dylan Mordaunt & Amanda Tarrant & Miranda Van Hooff & Jonathan , 2024. "No Women’s Land: Australian Women Veterans’ Experiences of the Culture of Military Service and Transition," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(4), pages 1-25, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:3:p:935-:d:484867. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.