Criminal justice involvement, trauma, and negative affect in Iraq and Afghanistan war era veterans.

Abstract

Although criminal behavior in veterans has been cited as a growing problem, little is known about why some veterans are at increased risk for arrest. Theories of criminal behavior postulate that people who have been exposed to stressful environments or traumatic events and who report negative affect such as anger and irritability are at increased risk of antisocial conduct. We thus hypothesized that veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) who report anger/irritability would show higher rates of criminal arrests. To test this, we examined data in a national survey of N=1388 Iraq and Afghanistan War Era Veterans. We found that 9% of respondents reported arrests since returning home from military service. Most arrests were associated with nonviolent criminal behavior resulting in incarceration for less than two weeks. Unadjusted bivariate analyses revealed that veterans with probable PTSD or TBI who reported anger/irritability were most likely to be arrested. In multivariate analyses, arrests were found to be significantly related to younger age, male gender, having witnessed family violence, prior history of arrest, alcohol/drug misuse, and PTSD with high anger/irritability but were not significantly related to combat exposure or TBI. Findings show that a subset of veterans with PTSD and negative affect may be at increased risk of criminal arrest. Since arrests are more strongly linked to substance abuse and criminal history, clinicians should also consider non-PTSD factors when evaluating and treating veterans with criminal justice involvement.

The factor structure of psychiatric comorbidity among Iraq/Afghanistan-era veterans and its relationship to violence, incarceration, suicide attempts, and suicidality

“…While both SUDs and PTSD have been related to incarceration (e.g., Calhoun et al, 2005;Erickson et al, 2008;Elbogen et al, 2012), SUDs appear to be the psychiatric conditions that present the greatest risk for incarceration among both non-Iraq/Afghanistan-era (Erickson et al, 2008) and Iraq/Afghanistan-era veterans (Elbogen et al, 2012). Thus, we expected that the externalizing-SUD factor would be the psychopathology factor most strongly associated with incarceration.…”

“…There is growing recognition that criminal behavior and incarceration are significant problems among returning Iraq/Afghanistan Veterans (e.g., Elbogen et al, 2012). While both SUDs and PTSD have been related to incarceration (e.g., Calhoun et al, 2005;Erickson et al, 2008;Elbogen et al, 2012), SUDs appear to be the psychiatric conditions that present the greatest risk for incarceration among both non-Iraq/Afghanistan-era (Erickson et al, 2008) and Iraq/Afghanistan-era veterans (Elbogen et al, 2012).…”

Military service and crime: new evidence

“…Regretfully, however, evidence indicates that a substantial proportion of military personnel are also involved in high-risk and antisocial behaviors that place them at jeopardy for criminal justice system involvement [2][3][4]. Indeed, recent estimates indicate that veterans comprise approximately 10% of the nation's total inmate population [5], and that veterans from the Vietnam era are substantially more likely to be involved in the criminal justice system as compared to their civilian counterparts [6]. This is not difficult to imagine as many military members are likely to be facing significant mental health concerns including, anxiety, depression, and PTSD exacerbated by the stress of military life that most civilians do not encounter [6][7][8][9].…”

Military Veterans and Fatherhood: An Intergenerational Impact

“…Recent studies indicate aggression toward others is a significant problem reported by up to one-third of OIF/OEF war veterans (Elbogen et al, 2012). The study also determined that other factors not related to military service, including growing up in a violent home life and a prior history of substance abuse also raised the risk that veterans will commit crimes (Elbogen et al, 2012). The majority of participants in the fatherhood study were non-combat veterans.…”

“…The current demands of military service may negatively increase the risk of substance use disorders (Elbogen et al, 2012). Multiple tours of duty, improvements in body armor and medical advances may result in additional exposure to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other trauma (e.g.…”