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Marital adjustment, verbal aggression, and physical aggression have long been associated in the marital literature, but the nature of their associations remains unclear. In this study, the authors examined these 3 constructs as risk factors for physical aggression during the first 2 years of marriage in 634 couples recruited as they applied for marriage licenses. Couples completed assessments at the time of marriage and at their 1st and 2nd anniversaries. Results of path analyses suggest that prior verbal aggression and physical aggression by both partners are important longitudinal predictors of physical aggression but do not support the role of marital adjustment as a unique predictor of subsequent physical aggression. Contrary to prior research, results also failed to support physical aggression as a unique predictor of marital adjustment.

This study sought to establish the prevalence and correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization in the six months before and after Hurricane Katrina. Participants were 445 married or cohabiting persons who were living in the 23 southernmost counties of Mississippi at the time of Hurricane Katrina. Data for this study were collected as part of a larger, population-based, representative study. The percentage of women reporting psychological victimization increased from 33.6% prior to Hurricane Katrina to 45.2 % following Hurricane Katrina (p < 0.001). The percentage of men reporting psychological victimization increased from 36.7% to 43.1% (p = 0.01). Reports of physical victimization increased from 4.2% to 8.3% for women (p=.01), but were unchanged for men. Significant predictors of post-Katrina victimization included pre-Katrina victimization, age, educational attainment, marital status and hurricane-related stressors. Reports of IPV were associated with greater risk of post-Katrina depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Data from the first population-based study to document IPV following a large scale natural disaster suggest that IPV may be an important, but often overlooked public health concern following disasters.

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To test whether a modified version of prolonged exposure (mPE) can effectively treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in individuals with co-occurring PTSD and substance dependence, an efficacy trial was conducted in which substance dependent treatment-seekers with PTSD (N = 126, male = 54.0%, White = 79.4%) were randomly assigned to mPE, mPE + trauma-focused motivational enhancement session (mPE+MET-PTSD), or a health information-based control condition (HLS). All participants were multiply traumatized; the median number of reported traumas that satisfied DSM-IV Criterion A for PTSD was 8. Treatment consisted of 9–12 60 min. individual therapy sessions plus substance abuse treatment-as-usual. Participants were assessed at baseline, end-of-treatment, and at 3- and 6-months posttreatment. Both the mPE and mPE+MET-PTSD conditions achieved significantly better PTSD outcome than the control condition. The mPE+MET-PTSD and mPE conditions did not differ from one another on PTSD symptoms at end of treatment, 3-, or 6-month follow-up. Substance use outcomes did not differ between groups with all groups achieving 85.7–97.9% days abstinent at follow-up. In regard to clinically significant improvement in trauma symptoms, 75.8 % of the mPE participants, 60.0% of the mPE+MET-PTSD participants, and 44.4% of the HLS participants experienced clinically significant improvement at the end-of-treatment. Results indicate mPE, with or without an MET-PTSD session, can effectively treat PTSD in patients with co-occurring PTSD and substance dependence. In addition, mPE session lengths may better suit standard clinical practice and are associated with medium effect sizes.

Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) consistently evidence higher rates of intimate partner aggression perpetration than veterans without PTSD, but most studies have examined rates of aggression among Vietnam veterans several years after their deployment. The primary aim of this study was to examine partner aggression among male Afghanistan or Iraq veterans who served during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and compare this aggression to that reported by Vietnam veterans with PTSD. Three groups were recruited, OEF/OIF veterans with PTSD (n = 27), OEF/OIF veterans without PTSD (n = 31), and Vietnam veterans with PTSD (n = 28). Though only a few comparisons reached significance, odds ratios suggested that male OEF/OIF veterans with PTSD were approximately 1.9 to 3.1 times more likely to perpetrate aggression toward their female partners and 1.6 to 6 times more likely to report experiencing female perpetrated aggression than the other two groups. Significant correlations among reports of violence perpetrated and sustained suggested many men may have been in mutually violent relationships. Taken together, these results suggest that partner aggression among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with PTSD may be an important treatment consideration and target for prevention.

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