Women's Health Sciences Division, National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts 02130, USA.
J Trauma Dissociation. 2011;12(3):275-89. doi: 10.1080/15299732.2011.551508.
This study examined posttraumatic stress symptomatology (PSS) as a mediator of the association between military sexual trauma and post-deployment physical health. Relationships were examined in a sample of 83 female veterans of the first Gulf War (1990-1991) approximately 10 years post-deployment. Participants reported on the frequency of sexual harassment and sexual assault experienced during deployment. Physical health was measured using participants' self-reports of pre-deployment and post-deployment symptoms within 7 body systems. Sexual harassment exposure was not found to be associated with PSS-mediated associations with physical health symptoms. However, sexual assault during deployment was found to be associated with PSS and 4 of the 7 health symptom clusters assessed: gastrointestinal, genitourinary, musculoskeletal, and neurological symptoms. Furthermore, PSS was found to be a significant mediator of the sexual assault-physical health relationship in each of these domains, with the indirect path accounting for 74% to 100% of the relationship. The findings from the current study indicate that sexual assault has detrimental associations with physical health and that PSS plays a primary role in that relationship.
本研究探讨了创伤后应激症状（PSS）在军事性创伤与部署后身体健康之间的关联中的中介作用。该研究在大约部署后 10 年的 83 名第一次海湾战争（1990-1991 年）的女性退伍军人样本中检验了这些关系。参与者报告了在部署期间经历的性骚扰和性侵犯的频率。身体健康是通过参与者在 7 个身体系统内的部署前和部署后的自我报告的症状来衡量的。性骚扰暴露与 PSS 介导的身体健康症状之间没有关联。然而，部署期间的性侵犯与 PSS 以及评估的 7 个健康症状群中的 4 个有关：胃肠道、泌尿生殖、肌肉骨骼和神经症状。此外，PSS 是这些领域中性侵犯与身体健康关系的重要中介因素，间接路径占关系的 74%至 100%。本研究的结果表明，性侵犯与身体健康有不利的关联，而 PSS 在这种关系中起着主要作用。
