Accession Number:

ADA566778

Title:

Understanding Resilience in Wounded Warriors and Their Families

Descriptive Note:

Final rept. 1 Aug 2009-31 Jan 2012

Corporate Author:

RESEARCH TRIANGLE INST (RTI) RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK NC

Personal Author(s):

• Brown, Janice M.

Report Date:

2012-02-01

Pagination or Media Count:

63.0

Abstract:

The current project was undertaken to identify the impact of deployment injury on measures of family functioning i.e., relationship adjustment, parental stress, and family chaos as well as on measures of psychological symptoms of the service member i.e., PTSD, depression, and alcohol use.Returning NG service members and their spouses rated family functioning as lower in the face of psychological difficulties experienced by the service member. Physical injury was positively related to psychological distress among service members. Neither the spouses of returning NG members nor the service members themselves reported significantly reduced family functioning in the face of physical dysfunction. Likewise, neither group reported significantly reduced family functioning in the face of physical dysfunction coupled with psychological difficulties. Thus, at least at this point in the reunification process, although invisible wounds of war are a detriment to family functioning, visible wounds of war appear to be protective against family dysfunction, even when psychological problems are present.

Descriptors:

• *DEPLOYMENT
• *WOUNDS AND INJURIES
• ALCOHOLISM
• DYSFUNCTION
• FAMILY MEMBERS
• MILITARY PERSONNEL
• RESILIENCE
• SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

Subject Categories:

• Psychology
• Anatomy and Physiology
• Medicine and Medical Research

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE