Coping with Gulf War combat stress: mediating and moderating effects.
Author: Sharkansky EJ, King DW, King LA, Wolfe J, Erickson DJ, Stokes LR.
Source:
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109(2), 188.
The authors examined relationships between method of coping with combat-related
stress and psychological symptoms among Gulf War Army personnel (N = 1,058).
Participants were surveyed on return from the Gulf region (Time 1) with the
Coping Responses Inventory (R. Moos, 1990) and a measure of combat exposure.
Outcomes were symptom measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and
depression. At Time 2 (18-24 months) participants completed the same symptom
measures and an index of postwar stress. Higher proportions of approach-based
coping in the war zone were related to lower levels of psychological symptoms.
Combat exposure moderated the effects of coping on Time 1 PTSD. Coping predicted
changes in symptoms of depression but not PTSD. Combat exposure affected changes
in depression through postwar stress but had a direct negative effect on PTSD.