Intimate Partner Violence Predicts Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Severity Independent of Early Life and Deployment-Related Trauma in Deployed Men and Women Veterans

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) refers to emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse perpetrated by a current or former partner. IPV affects both genders, though little is known about its effects on men as victims. The aims of this study were to determine if IPV is a factor contributing to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity independently of deployment-related trauma, and to determine if there are gender differences in these associations. Participants were 46 female and 471 male post-9/11 veterans. Four sequential regressions were employed to examine the independent contribution of IPV among multiple trauma types on PTSD severity in men and women at two epochs, post-deployment (participants were anchored to deployment-related PTSD symptoms) and current (within the past month). Models were significant for both epochs in men ( ps < .001) but not in women ( ps > .230). In men, IPV independently predicted PTSD severity in both epochs (β > .093). However, in women, early life trauma (β = .284), but not IPV was a significant and independent predictor for current PTSD. Thus, there are distinct gender differences in how trauma type contributes to PTSD symptom severity. Although the statistical models were not significant in women, we observed similar patterns of results as in men and, in some cases, the β was actually higher in women than in men, suggesting a lack of power in our analyses. More research is clearly needed to follow-up these results; however, our findings indicate that IPV is a contributing factor to PTSD severity in veterans.