The USS Cole bombing: analysis of pre-existing factors as predictors for development of post-traumatic stress or depressive disorders.

OBJECTIVE

To determine if pre-existing demographic factors (e.g., age, marital status, military rank) forecasted predisposition or resilience to the development of post-traumatic stress or depressive symptoms in the crew of the USS Cole following the suicide bombing in 2000.

METHOD

The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) were administered to the crew. Demographic data were also collected and analyzed to discover to what extent, if any, pre-existing demographic factors had on the mean scores of the Zung and IES-R.

RESULTS

The results revealed that higher rank, older age, and male gender were protective factors against developing symptoms of posttraumatic stress; whereas lower rank, younger age, female gender, and having been injured or having had a friend injured or killed were associated with the development of symptoms. Other pre-existing factors examined did not demonstrate any predictive value.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings increase our understanding of which pre-existing demographic factors might portend susceptibility to the development of post-traumatic stress and depressive symptoms, knowledge that we hope can contribute to the U.S. military's ongoing efforts to develop therapeutic interventions better targeted to individual needs.