Health and occupational consequences of spouse abuse victimization among male U.S. Army soldiers.

Little is known about health and occupational outcomes of male spouse abuse victims. In all, 11,294 male spouse abuse victims with a history of spouse abuse perpetration, 3,277 victims without prior spouse abuse perpetration, and 72,855 nonvictims and nonperpetrators were followed for 12 years to assess army attrition and hospitalization risk. In multivariate Cox models controlling for age, race, education, rank, service time, and dependents, victims were at significantly greater risk for early army discharge and hospitalization than were nonvictims- particularly hospitalizations for depression, alcohol dependence, and mental health-even when the hospitalization occurred years after the abuse event. Victim-perpetrators had greater risk than did victim-nonperpetrators for both attrition (1.13, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.08-1.18; 1.05, 95% CI = 1.02-1.08, respectively) and hospitalizations (1.45, 95% CI = 1.38-1.52; 1.38, 95% CI = 1.27-1.49, respectively). College education was protective and deserves further inquiry. Male victims need greater support following spouse abuse.