Wilk Joshua E, Quartana Phillip J, Clarke-Walper Kristina, Kok Brian C, Riviere Lyndon A
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Military Psychiatry, Silver Spring, Maryland.
Aggress Behav. 2015 Nov-Dec;41(6):556-65. doi: 10.1002/ab.21595. Epub 2015 Jul 23.
Anger and aggression are among the most common issues reported by returning service members from combat deployments. However, the pathways between combat exposure and anger and aggression have not been comprehensively characterized. The present study aimed to characterize the relationship between trait anger, combat exposure, post-deployment PTSD, and aggression. U.S. Army soldiers (N = 2,420) were administered anonymous surveys assessing combat exposure, current PTSD symptoms and aggression, as well as trait anger items 3 months after returning from deployment to Afghanistan. PTSD symptom levels were related to aggression at higher levels of trait anger, but not evident among soldiers who had lower levels of trait anger. The pathway from combat exposure to PTSD, and then to aggression, was conditional upon levels of trait anger, such that the pathway was most evident at high levels of trait anger. This was the first study to our knowledge that concurrently modeled unconditional and conditional direct and indirect associations between combat exposure, PTSD, trait anger, and aggression. The findings can be helpful clinically and for developing screening protocols for combat exposed Soldiers. The results of this study suggest the importance of assessing and managing anger and aggression in soldiers returning from combat deployment. Anger is one of the most common complaints of returning soldiers and can have debilitating effects across all domains of functioning. It is imperative that future research efforts are directed toward understanding this phenomenon and developing and validating effective treatments for it.
愤怒和攻击行为是从战斗部署中归来的军人报告的最常见问题之一。然而，战斗暴露与愤怒和攻击行为之间的路径尚未得到全面描述。本研究旨在描述特质愤怒、战斗暴露、部署后创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）和攻击行为之间的关系。对2420名美国陆军士兵进行了匿名调查，评估他们从阿富汗部署归来3个月后的战斗暴露情况、当前的PTSD症状和攻击行为，以及特质愤怒项目。PTSD症状水平在特质愤怒程度较高时与攻击行为有关，但在特质愤怒程度较低的士兵中不明显。从战斗暴露到PTSD，再到攻击行为的路径取决于特质愤怒水平，使得该路径在特质愤怒程度较高时最为明显。据我们所知，这是第一项同时对战斗暴露、PTSD、特质愤怒和攻击行为之间的无条件和有条件直接及间接关联进行建模的研究。这些发现对临床以及为战斗暴露士兵制定筛查方案可能会有帮助。本研究结果表明评估和管理从战斗部署归来士兵的愤怒和攻击行为的重要性。愤怒是归来士兵最常见的抱怨之一，并且会在所有功能领域产生使人衰弱的影响。未来的研究工作必须致力于理解这一现象，并开发和验证针对它的有效治疗方法。
