Help-seeking Vietnam combat veterans with a diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD; n = 21) were compared with help-seeking combat veterans without evidence of PTSD (n = 18) and help-seeking veterans with minimal combat experience (n = 2 l) on indexes of cohabitating and marital adjustment. Also, premilitary adjustment was assessed and validated by relative's reports. The PTSD group reported significantly more problems than did the other groups with self-disclosure and expressiveness to their partners, physical aggression toward their partners, and global relationship adjustment. The PTSD group did not differ from the other groups on measures of intimacy and affectionate behavior. The findings were not attributable to premilitary adjustment, response style, or demographic factors. The results were compared with findings of previous studies and discussed in terms of their implications for assessment, treatment, and future research. The research project was supported by Rehabilitation Research and Training Center Grant 26 to Edward M. Carroll. Special thanks are due to Robert Liberman, Byron Wittlin, and Seymour Feshbach for their continuing support and assistance during the project. The authors would also like to express their appreciation to Kelly Cline, Arnetta Counts, Phyllis Prado, Jill Bruchner, and Penny Felix for their help in data reduction and manuscript preparation. Requests for reprints should be sent to Edward M. Carroll, Brentwood Veterans Administration Medical Center (691/Bi 17),

Delinquent behavior is conceptualized as a manifestation of situation-specific social-behavioral skill deficits. The research was in two phases. In Phase 1, a measure consisting of 44 behavioral role-playing and problem-solving itemsthe Adolescent Problems Inventory (API)-was empirically developed, along with an item-specific criterion-referenced raters' manual. The inventory was designed to identify strengths and weaknesses in the personal and interpersonal skills repertoires of adolescent boys. Phase 2 was concerned with the validation of the API. In an initial validation study, the API responses of institutionalized delinquent boys were rated as less competent than the responses of either of two nondelirxquent groups of teenage boys ("good citizens" and "leaders") from a public high school. Analyses of the inventory's characteristics showed it to be reliable, to be composed of items with little or no cluster structure, and to have extraordinary discriminant power. A second validation study compared the API responses of two groups: institutionalized delinquent boys who had frequent behavioral problems within the institution and institutionalized delinquent boys who had few acting-out problems within the institution. The former group was judged to respond less skillfully. A third validation study replicated previous group differences between delinquents and carefully matched nondelinquents. The study also showed that the type of directions given ("What would you do?" vs. "What is the best thing to do?") and test format (free response vs. multiple choice) significantly affected performance. It is suggested that researchers using a social skills conceptualization of personality do more thorough assessment studies of behavior pathologies before embarking on the development of large-scale social skills training programs.It has been suggested that some Individ-male adolescent delinquents (Sarason & Ganuals behave maladaptively simply because zer, 1971). they lack the requisite skills to do better Unfortunately, nearly all skill-training (e.g., McFall, 1976). In recent years, this studies to date have been treatment oriented; skill-deficit conception of deviance has been that is, they have been concerned either with reflected in numerous experimental skill-evaluating the general therapeutic utility of training programs aimed at treating such skill-training programs or with assessing the clinical populations as nonassertive college specific contributions of various training cornstudents (McFall & Twentyman, 1973), shy ponents, such as instructions, modeling, remales (Twentyman & McFall, 1975), alco-hearsal, or feedback. Meanwhile, many funholies (Sobell & Sobell, 1973), psychiatric damental questions concerning the underlying inpatients (Goldsmith & McFall, 1975), and assumptions, concepts, and methods of the

A new instrument for assessing social skills of schizophrenic patients, Assessment of Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills (AIPSS), is a videotaped-based test with an examiner's administration and scoring manual. The test measures an examinee's ability to describe an interpersonal social problem, to derive a solution to the problem, and to enact a solution in a role-played simulation test. In a study using a sample of schizophrenic outpatients and a comparison group of nonpatients, we found that the test had adequate psychometric properties, and the patients demonstrated deficits on all scales relative to the nonpatients. The results of the study also provided partial support for the validity of an information-processing model of social skills, which was used as a basis for constructing the AIPSS. Thus, the AIPSS represents a departure from previous methods of assessing social skills.

Assessment data from 118 Vietnam‐era veterans seeking psychological services at two Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Centers were analyzed to examine the potential relationships between number of preadult and adult antisocial behaviors, as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM‐III; American Psychiatric Association, 1980) criteria for antisocial personality disorder, level of combat exposure, and development of combat‐related post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that combat exposure level was related significantly to PTSD symptomatology, whereas number of preadult antisocial behaviors was not. However, both combat exposure level and preadult behaviors, which were not correlated significantly, were related significantly to number of adult antisocial behaviors. There were no significant interaction effects. Results were consistent with a theoretical model of PTSD development that emphasizes the role of trauma vs. premorbid characterological factors. In addition, the significant association between combat exposure and adult antisocial behavior indicates that trauma may play a role in the development and/or maintenance of adult antisocial behaviors observed in some Vietnam veterans.

This paper presents a review of empirical literature that deals with etiological factors in combat‐related post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Variables implicated in PTSD from three time frames, premilitary, military, and postmilitary, are identified, and findings from relevant research are discussed. There is consistency across studies in showing significant correlations between PTSD and combat exposure and post‐military psychosocial adjustment. Less consistent are the finding with regard to relationships between premilitary psychosocial factors and PTSD. Recent findings from studies that have explored possible physiological correlates of PTSD also are discussed. Based on current literature, implications for future research on etiological factors in combat‐related PTSD are presented.