Personality and psychopathology profiles of veterans' wives: Measuring distress using the MMPI‐2

Abstract

The present study compared personality and psychopathology profiles of veterans' wives against married women in the MMPI-2 restandardization sample. Differences in levels of distress and pathology were analyzed using the validity, clinical, and content scales of the MMPI-2. As expected, veterans' wives, when compared to restandardization wives, reported higher levels of psychopathology and distress, with symptoms such as depression, social maladjustment, and other negative, internal symptomatic behaviors. Findings are discussed in terms of the need for additional research examining this "at-risk" population.

Still living in a war zone: Perceived health and wellbeing of partners of Vietnam veterans attending partners' support groups in New South Wales, Australia

“…Physical and mental health problems, isolation from family, friends and the wider community were reported. These findings are consistent with limited data from small-scale studies in Australia and overseas (Alessi et al, 2001;Evans, McHugh, Hopwood, & Watt, 2003;Glenn et al, 2002;Nelson & Wright, 1996).…”

“…Mental health problems in partners of war veterans, as well as ongoing negative impacts on family relationships, have been demonstrated in US Vietnam veterans (Alessi, White, Ray, & Stewart, 2001;Beckham, Lytle, & Feldman, 1996;Glenn et al, 2002;Kulka et al, 1990;Lyons, 2001), and more recently Dutch peacekeepers (Dirkzwager, Bramsen, Ader, & van der Ploeg, 2005). Two small Australian studies exploring the health of spouses of men being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Bray, 1998;Westerink & Giarratano, 1999) showed partners to be more psychologically distressed than comparable groups.…”

Psychological Functioning of Partners of Australian Combat Veterans: Contribution of Veterans' PTSD Symptoms and Partners' Caregiving Distress

“…Research suggests that partners of veterans constitute a high‐risk population with serious implications for their mental and physical health, emotional well‐being, and marital problems (Alessi, Ray, Ray, & Stewart, ). Dekel and Monson () found a link between veterans' deployment stressors, including exposure to combat, and their poorer family functioning.…”

“…In turn, veterans' mental health problems tend to negatively impact on their family members (Beckham, ; Calhoun et al., ). Findings from the USA, Israel, Holland, Croatia, Iran (Calhoun et al., ; Dekel, Goldblatt, Keidar, Solomon, & Polliack, ; Dirkzwager, Bramsen, Adèr, & van der Ploeg, ; Frančikovišć et al., ; Salimi, Azad‐Marazbadi, Karaminia, Mirzamani, & Hosseini‐Sangtrashani, ), and Australia (MacDonell, Marsh, Hine, & Bhullar, ; Outram, Hansen, MacDonell, Cockburn, & Adams, ; Westerink & Giarratano, ) suggest that partners of combat veterans have a significantly higher risk of developing psychological problems as a result of living and caring for their veterans than the general population (Alessi et al., ).…”

Depression, anxiety, and stress in partners of Australian combat veterans and military personnel: a comparison with Australian population norms

“…Partners of military and combat veterans 1 1In this paper, we referred to all Military personnel as combat veterans.are at a risk of experiencing higher levels of mental health distress symptomatology (Alessi et al, 2001). Progress has been made in research of partners of veterans regarding their psychosocial outcomes and the major issues they face (e.g., Beckham, Lytle & Feldman, 1996; Calhoun, Beckham & Bosworth, 2002; MacDonell et al, 2014; Outram et al, 2009; Renshaw & Campbell, 2011; Renshaw & Caska, 2012; Solomon et al, 1991; Westerink & Giarratano, 1999).…”