Abstract
We examined military-related sexual trauma among deployed Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans. Of 125 729 veterans who received Veterans Health Administration primary care or mental health services, 15.1% of the women and 0.7% of the men reported military sexual trauma when screened. Military sexual trauma was associated with increased odds of a mental disorder diagnosis, including posttraumatic stress disorder, other anxiety disorders, depression, and substance use disorders. Sexual trauma is an important postdeployment mental health issue in this population.
Emerging research with US veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq suggests that the mental health effects of these deployments are significant. An estimated 19% to 42% of this population have mental health conditions.1–4 One of the potential contributors to this burden of mental illness is exposure to sexual assault or harassment during service, referred to within the Veterans Health Administration as military sexual trauma.5 Considerable data attest to the negative mental health consequences of such experiences in both military and civilian populations,5–13 yet no data investigating military sexual trauma in the context of postdeployment mental health among the Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom cohort are currently available.
Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans are eligible for 5 years of free care through the Veterans Health Administration for conditions related to their military service. This cohort is turning to the Veterans Health Administration for health care in record numbers, with nearly 40% enrolled to date.14 The Veterans Health Administration has recently invested significant resources in the detection and treatment of military sexual trauma, implementing universal military sexual trauma screening in 2002 and providing free care for all related conditions.5 Although military sexual trauma had been documented in veterans of previous war eras,15,16 Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans are the first generation of Veterans Health Administration users to return from a large-scale deployment to these comprehensive screening and treatment services.
For our study, we completed, to our knowledge, the first national, population-based assessment of the mental health profile associated with a history of military sexual trauma among deployed Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans who used Veterans Health Administration services. We describe the prevalence of military sexual trauma and characterized the postdeployment mental health conditions among patients who reported a history of military sexual trauma.
We included all veterans deployed in service of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom and separated from military service by September 30, 2006, who used Veterans Health Administration mental health or primary care services between October 1, 2001, and September 30, 2007. This cohort had 21 834 women and 142 769 men.
Data were extracted from centralized electronic medical records and coded for military sexual trauma screen status and International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision,17 diagnoses for mental health conditions with methods identical to those used in a previous study.5 The Veterans Health Administration Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom roster was used to identify our cohort and to provide demographic and military service characteristics.4 We used the χ2 analysis to determine demographic characteristics, use of Veterans Health Administration mental health or primary care services, and military service characteristics that were associated with military sexual trauma status in veterans by gender. For each mental health condition, we modeled the odds of the diagnosis as a function of military sexual trauma and adjusted for all demographic characteristics, health care services use, and military service characteristics that were significant (P < .05) in χ2 analysis. Statistical analyses were conducted in SPSS, Version 14.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL).
We focused analyses on the members of the cohort who were screened for military sexual trauma, 17 580 (80.5%) women and 108 149 (75.8%) men, exclusive of the small minority who declined screening (0.8% of women; 0.3% of men). Unscreened patients used fewer Veterans Health Administration services: median outpatient visits for unscreened versus screened patients were 2 versus 6 among women (P < .001) and 4 versus 7 among men (P < .001). All other group differences were either nonsignificant or of minimal effect size, with the exception that higher proportions of unscreened men were Hispanic compared with screened men (21.7% vs 9.4%; P < .001).
Military sexual trauma was reported by 15.1% of the women and 0.7% of the men. Military sexual trauma screen status was significantly related to several demographic characteristics, health care services use, and military service characteristics (Table 1).
TABLE 1 Demographics, Health Care Services Use, and Military Service Characteristics of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom Veterans Health Administration Outpatients and Military Sexual Trauma Screen Results: October 1, 2001, to September 30, 2007
| Women | Men | |||||
| Screened Positive for Military Sexual Trauma (n = 2648), % | Screened Negative for Military Sexual Trauma (n = 14 932), % | P | Screened Positive for Military Sexual Trauma (n = 732), % | Screened Negative for Military Sexual Trauma (n = 107 417), % | P | |
| Demographics | ||||||
| Age, y | .95 | .006 | ||||
| 18–24 | 35.8 | 36.2 | 24.0 | 29.7 | ||
| 25–34 | 38.6 | 38.5 | 36.6 | 35.4 | ||
| 35–44 | 17.9 | 17.5 | 26.0 | 22.8 | ||
| ≥ 45 | 7.7 | 7.8 | 13.4 | 12.1 | ||
| Race/ethnicity | < .001 | .097 | ||||
| White | 59.3 | 49.6 | 64.1 | 68.3 | ||
| Black | 25.5 | 34.6 | 20.1 | 17.3 | ||
| Hispanic | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.7 | 9.4 | ||
| Other/unknown | 5.2 | 5.7 | 5.2 | 4.9 | ||
| Marital status | .003 | .007 | ||||
| Married | 32.7 | 30.2 | 49.1 | 46.9 | ||
| Never married | 56.8 | 60.3 | 43.5 | 47.8 | ||
| Divorced/separated/widowed | 10.5 | 9.5 | 7.4 | 5.3 | ||
| Health insurance | 21.5 | 23.0 | .09 | 19.0 | 27.0 | < .001 |
| Service connection > 50% | 27.6 | 13.7 | < .001 | 27.6 | 16.6 | < .001 |
| Veterans Health Administration services use before Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom | 7.3 | 5.8 | .002 | 9.2 | 5.5 | < .001 |
| Time in Veterans Health Administration care > 12 mo | 88.7 | 87.2 | .04 | 84.3 | 85.4 | .41 |
| Military service characteristics | ||||||
| Component | < .001 | < .001 | ||||
| Active duty | 54.9 | 47.0 | 53.3 | 46.0 | ||
| National Guard/Reserve | 45.1 | 53.0 | 46.7 | 54.0 | ||
| Rank | .92 | .53 | ||||
| Enlisted | 93.3 | 93.3 | 94.7 | 94.1 | ||
| Officer | 6.7 | 6.7 | 5.3 | 5.9 | ||
| Branch | .002 | < .001 | ||||
| US Air Force | 12.7 | 13.0 | 9.7 | 7.7 | ||
| US Army | 69.1 | 71.7 | 66.4 | 70.3 | ||
| US Navy/Coast Guard | 14.4 | 12.2 | 14.6 | 9.1 | ||
| Marines | 3.8 | 3.1 | 9.3 | 12.9 | ||
| Multiple deployments | 32.2 | 35.3 | .002 | 35.8 | 37.1 | .46 |
| Most recent deployment > 6 mo duration | 50.9 | 53.2 | .03 | 51.9 | 58.3 | .001 |
Each of the most frequently reported mental health conditions in the sample was significantly more likely among women and men who reported military sexual trauma than among those who did not (Table 2), even after we adjusted for demographic characteristics, health care services use, and military service characteristics. For both women and men, the odds of each mental health condition did not differ substantially between adjusted and unadjusted estimates, suggesting that associations between military sexual trauma and these conditions are distinct from the associations of demographic characteristics, health care services use, and military service characteristics with these conditions.
TABLE 2 Military Sexual Trauma Screen Results and Mental Health Conditions of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom Veterans Health Administration Outpatients: October 1, 2001, to September 30, 2007
| Women | Men | |||||||
| Mental Health Condition | Screened Positive for Military Sexual Trauma, % | Screened Negative for Military Sexual Trauma, % | OR (95% CI) | AOR (95% CI)a | Screened Positive for Military Sexual Trauma, % | Screened Negative for Military Sexual Trauma, % | OR (95% CI) | AOR (95% CI)a |
| Any mental health condition | 75.7 | 46.6 | 3.57 (3.25, 3.92) | 3.28 (2.97, 3.62) | 76.5 | 51.5 | 3.07 (2.58, 3.64) | 3.08 (2.57, 3.67) |
| Depressive disorders | 56.2 | 30.3 | 2.96 (2.72, 3.22) | 2.64 (2.41, 2.88) | 46.6 | 25.9 | 2.49 (2.15, 2.88) | 2.32 (1.99, 2.70) |
| Posttraumatic stress disorder | 51.1 | 21.5 | 3.82 (3.51, 4.16) | 3.83 (3.49, 4.21) | 52.5 | 31.8 | 2.37 (2.05, 2.74) | 2.53 (2.16, 2.97) |
| Other anxiety disorders | 29.1 | 16.6 | 2.05 (1.87, 2.26) | 1.80 (1.64, 1.99) | 28.3 | 16.1 | 2.06 (1.75, 2.42) | 1.98 (1.68, 2.34) |
| Alcohol and substance use disorders | 13.9 | 5.2 | 2.89 (2.53, 3.29) | 2.51 (2.19, 2.87) | 22.0 | 12.7 | 1.93 (1.62, 2.30) | 1.84 (1.53, 2.20) |
| Adjustment disorders | 20.6 | 13.4 | 1.68 (1.51, 1.86) | 1.68 (1.50, 1.87) | 20.9 | 13.4 | 1.71 (1.43, 2.04) | 1.72 (1.44, 2.06) |
Note. AOR = adjusted odds ratio; CI = confidence interval; OR = odds ratio.
a The AOR compares likelihood of the specified mental health condition in military sexual trauma positive versus military sexual trauma negative patients, adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, marital status, health insurance, service connection greater than 50%, Veterans Health Administration services use before Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom, time in Veterans Health Administration care greater than 12 months, component, branch, multiple deployment, and recent deployment of more than 6 months' duration.
Although the issue of sexual trauma among deployed Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom service members continues to receive significant attention from the media18,19 and advocacy groups,20 until now no data have been available to quantify the significant mental health burden of illness associated with military sexual trauma in this population. Consistent with other research, we observed high rates of postdeployment mental health conditions among all Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom patients.21 Women and men who reported a history of military sexual trauma were significantly more likely than those who did not to receive a mental health diagnosis, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), other anxiety disorders, depression, and substance use disorders. These results are consistent with data suggesting that patients who experience military sexual trauma frequently present with substantial mental health treatment needs.15,22,23 Effect sizes for the relation of military sexual trauma to PTSD were substantially stronger among women compared with men, suggesting that military sexual trauma may be a particularly relevant gender-specific clinical issue in PTSD treatment settings.
The results of this study bear several caveats. The rate of military sexual trauma and the rate of mental illness reported in this study likely represent conservative estimates because both tend to be underreported.24–27 Although significant proportions of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans use Veterans Health Administration services, these data do not necessarily generalize to other health care settings. Our analyses were cross-sectional, so the exact timing of military sexual trauma, deployment, and the onset of mental health conditions cannot be determined. Thus, no conclusion can be drawn about causal relations between military sexual trauma and mental health. Finally, although frequency and length of deployment (measured in this study) may serve as proxies for combat exposure, research accounting for a broader range of service-related stressors, including both military sexual trauma and combat exposure, is needed.
Studies of mental health care for military sexual trauma among veterans of previous service eras have focused on experiences that were detected at times considerably more distal from military service. The Veterans Health Administration's ability to detect military sexual trauma in this recently returned cohort will help focus early interventions for this population. However, survivors of sexual trauma often delay disclosure and treatment of their experiences,28 and Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom Veterans report stigma associated with help-seeking.29 Thus, the population of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans seeking Veterans Health Administration care for military sexual trauma may increase with time. These data highlight the need to ensure adequate access to and capacity of mental health care for military sexual trauma and associated postdeployment mental health conditions.
Acknowledgments
Funding was provided by the Health Services Research and Development Service, US Department of Veterans Affairs (IAE 05-291 and SDR 07-331).
Note. The views expressed in this brief are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The funding source had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or decision to publish the manuscript.
Human Participant Protection
All research was approved by the human subjects research institutional review board at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
