School of Social Work, Faculty of Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel.
B'Shvil Hamachar Organization, Yahud, Israel.
Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2024 Jun;70(4):801-807. doi: 10.1177/00207640241231216. Epub 2024 Feb 13.
Soldiers in military service are at risk of exposure to traumatic and stressful experiences, which can lead to symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and symptoms of depression. In the context of veterans' PTSD and depression, social support has been shown to be a very significant resource. However, while general depression has been examined among veterans and although combat soldiers are often men, male depression has been rarely examined. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the relationships between social support, PTSD symptoms, and male depression among veterans.
Five hundred and ninety-five male combat veterans completed a demographic questionnaire and measures of social support, PTSD, and male depression, including the specific symptoms of anger, substance use, social withdrawal, and restricted emotions.
Structural-equation-model analyses showed that social support was negatively associated with both PTSD symptoms and depression symptoms. Specifically, social support showed lower trends of associations with substance use and anger; whereas there were higher associations with social withdrawal and restricted emotions. PTSD showed the strongest association with anger. Thus, we can see that social support is a key resource for coping with PTSD and different symptoms of male depression.
Greater attention to social support, PTSD, and aspects of male depression could assist the development of intervention and therapeutic programs and also help to prevent the misdiagnosis of depression among military veterans.
军人在服兵役期间面临着暴露于创伤和压力事件的风险，这可能导致创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）和抑郁症状。在退伍军人 PTSD 和抑郁的背景下，社会支持已被证明是一种非常重要的资源。然而，虽然已经研究了退伍军人的一般抑郁，并且虽然战斗士兵通常是男性，但男性抑郁很少被研究。因此，本研究旨在探讨退伍军人中社会支持、PTSD 症状和男性抑郁之间的关系。
595 名男性战斗退伍军人完成了人口统计问卷以及社会支持、PTSD 和男性抑郁的测量，包括愤怒、物质使用、社交退缩和情绪受限的具体症状。
结构方程模型分析表明，社会支持与 PTSD 症状和抑郁症状呈负相关。具体来说，社会支持与物质使用和愤怒的关联度较低；而与社交退缩和情绪受限的关联度较高。PTSD 与愤怒的关联最强。因此，我们可以看到社会支持是应对 PTSD 和男性抑郁不同症状的关键资源。
更多地关注社会支持、PTSD 和男性抑郁的各个方面可以帮助制定干预和治疗计划，并有助于防止对军事退伍军人的抑郁误诊。
