Reassessing War Stress: Exposure and the Persian Gulf War

Research has shown a clear association between war-zone exposure and psychological readjustment in soldiers. Newer findings suggest that certain event and person characteristics are especially influential in this process. The present article has the following goals: (a) to review existing parameters in the traditional measurement of war-zone exposure, (b) to consider conceptual and methodological limitations in these approaches, (c) to present empirical data from a cohort of Persian Gulf War veterans that support the utility of a broader conceptualization of war trauma, and (d) to examine how gender may be differentially associated with some dimensions of war-zone stress and psychological outcome following deployment. Data suggest that identifying diverse dimensions of war-zone stress may enhance efforts to understand veterans' initial and long-range wartime recovery.

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