Mental Health and Substance Use Factors Associated With Unwanted Sexual Contact Among U.S. Active Duty Service Women

Abstract

Many U.S. military women are exposed to unwanted sexual contact during military service, which can have important implications for mental health. Using data from the 2008 Department of Defense Survey of Health Related Behaviors, we employed multiple logistic regression methods to examine whether unwanted sexual contact was associated with stress, screening positive for mental disorders, or substance use, among active duty service women. The sample included 7,415 female military personnel, of whom 13.4% reported unwanted sexual contact (including any touching of genitals) since entering the military. After adjusting for potentially confounding variables, factors independently associated with unwanted sexual contact included military-related stress (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] = 2.44), family/personal life-related stress (AOR = 1.78), and gender-related stress (AOR = 1.98) in the past 12 months. In addition, screening positive for depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, psychological distress, and suicidal ideation or attempt were associated with unwanted sexual contact (AOR = 1.57–2.11). For drug/alcohol use, only misuse of tranquilizers/muscle relaxers (past 12 months) was associated with report of unwanted sexual contact (AOR = 1.35). Given the prevalence of unwanted sexual contact and corresponding adverse health outcomes in this sample of active duty women, strategies to create military structural/cultural changes and reduce gender-related stress and sexism are needed.

Patterns of Smoking and Unhealthy Alcohol Use Following Sexual Trauma Among U.S. Service Members

“…To our knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study on the risk for unhealthy alcohol use initiation, unhealthy alcohol use relapse, and smoking relapse in relation to sexual harassment and sexual assault in the military. While about 1% of men in each subsample reported a sexual trauma, women reported much higher proportions (11 to 15%), which is similar to what has been reported in other military populations (Haskell et al., ; Stahlman et al., ). Additionally, sexual harassment was 4 to 6 times more prevalent than sexual assault for both men and women.…”

“…However, there was no evidence of higher risk for the initiation of unhealthy alcohol use in men or in women in relation to sexual assault or harassment. Prior examinations of alcohol use in relation to sexual trauma have reported inconsistent results (Maguen et al., ; Stahlman et al., ; Suris, Lind, Kashner, & Borman, ). One explanation may be that these earlier studies were cross‐sectional and not able to take pretrauma or baseline alcohol use into account.…”

“…Similarly, among male and female veterans, those who had screened positive for MST were more likely to be diagnosed with alcohol abuse, and to have sleep, eating, and mental health disorders than veterans who screened negative for MST (Kimerling, Gima, Smith, Street, & Frayne, 2007). However, evidence on this issue is equivocal, with one cross-sectional examination reporting that unwanted sexual contact was not associated with binge drinking in servicewomen (Stahlman et al, 2015). To our knowledge, there are no reports examining sexual trauma and smoking among a military population, although a study of service members found that men who reported interpersonal violence in the past year had over two times greater odds of smoking then those who did not report violence (Cunradi, Ames, & Moore, 2005).…”

Ideação suicida e consumo de drogas ilícitas por mulheres

“…It is interesting to note that the association of suicidal behavior with the use of illicit PAS has been reported, specifically heroin, cocaine, and tranquillizers without medical prescription. (24) In the present study, suicidal ideation is also associated with the use of tranquilizers. These, mostly the benzodiazepines, are depressants of the central nervous system.…”

Regular past year cannabis use in women veterans and associations with sexual trauma

“…To our knowledge this is the first study to describe cannabis use prevalence specifically among women veterans, to characterize women veterans reporting such use, and to explore the independent contributions of sexual trauma on cannabis use. Overall prevalence of regular past year cannabis use (11%) was higher than past year cannabis use rates detected in civilian women (i.e., 6.4–6.9%) but slightly lower than reported past year prevalence among women active duty military personnel (13.4%) (Hasin et al, 2015; Ko, Farr, Tong, et al, 2015; Stahlman, Javanbakht, Cochran, et al, 2015). When examined by sexual orientation, prevalence of regular past year cannabis use was similar to past year prevalence rates previously reported in hetero-sexual (e.g., 5.0%–6.9%) and lesbian/bisexual (e.g., 5.2–37.8%) civilian women (Hasin et al, 2015; Hughes, Szalacha, & McNair, 2010; Trocki et al, 2009).…”