Do different types of war stressors have independent relations with mental health? Findings from the Korean Vietnam Veterans Study.

Abstract

Objective: South Korea had the second largest contingent of soldiers in the Vietnam War, but little is known about their adaptation, especially in later life. Previous work in a different sample found very high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; 41%) among Korean Vietnam veterans (KVVs; Kang, Kim, & Lee, 2014), compared to 19–31% for American Vietnam veterans. We explored possible reasons for this high rate of PTSD, as well as anxiety and depressive symptoms, utilizing both vulnerability factors (e.g., war stressors) and protective factors (optimism, unit cohesion, and homecoming experiences). Method: The sample included 367 male KVVs surveyed by mail (M age = 72, SD = 2.66). Using hierarchical regressions controlling for demographics, we examined the relative contributions of different types of war stressors and then the protective factors. Results: Combat exposure was significantly associated with the three types of negative psychological symptoms, but their associations became nonsignificant when “subjective” war stressors (malevolent environments, perceived threat, and moral injury) were added. In the final models, malevolent environments were the strongest predictor for all three outcomes. In addition, moral injury was independently associated with PTSD symptoms, while perceived threat was marginally associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms. Among psychosocial factors, only optimism was negatively associated with the mental health outcomes. Conclusion: KVVs had very high rates of combat exposure, but malevolent environments played a more important role in their mental health in later life. These findings suggest the importance of considering adverse environmental factors in understanding PTSD in future studies.

Positive Links Between Exposure to Police Violence, PTSD, and Depression Symptoms Among Yellow Vests Protesters in France

“…Recent investigations of the Hong Kong antiextradition bill protests highlighted a detrimental effect of protest attendance on mental health outcomes (PTSD and depression symptoms; see Ni et al, 2017Ni et al, , 2020a; also see Hou, & Hall, 2019). In these samples, prevalence of PTSD and depression was comparable to that observed among war-veterans (respectively 11.2% and 12.8%), a relevant comparison group given the shared features of violent protests and war contexts (as well as the traumatic role of interpreting these as 'malevolent' environments, see Lee, Aldwin, & Kang, 2020). Although these studies discussed the potentially traumatic nature of protests by focusing on the stressful character of protest contexts (looting, crowd movements, unusual noise, fires; Ni et al, 2020a), the effect of direct exposure to police violence among protesters had yet to be examined.…”

Vulnerability and resilience among older South Korean Vietnam war veterans: A latent profile analysis.

“…Although the response rates varied depending on the area, the data were collected from a national representative sample of Korean Vietnam War veterans. Excluding seven invalid surveys, we used the data from 367 veterans in the present study ( M age = 72, SD = 2.66, range = 65–84; for detailed military characteristics for this study sample; see Lee et al, 2020).…”

“…Thus, the present study took into consideration these four types of social support and examined their associations with mental health in older South Korean Vietnam veterans. experienced high levels of combat exposure and mortality (Kang et al, 2014;Lee et al, 2020). Our previous research showed that these veterans evidenced very high levels of PTSD caseness in later life, which was affected not only by their combat exposure but also by their appraisals of their experience and exposure to adverse environments.…”

“…Relatively little is known about adaption among South Korean Vietnam veterans in late life, even though they were the second largest contingent of battle troops in the Vietnam War, and experienced high levels of combat exposure and mortality (Kang et al, 2014; Lee et al, 2020). Our previous research showed that these veterans evidenced very high levels of PTSD caseness in later life, which was affected not only by their combat exposure but also by their appraisals of their experience and exposure to adverse environments.…”

“…Relatively little is known about South Korean Vietnam War veterans, despite their being the second largest contingent of troops during the Vietnam War. Earlier research found elevated levels (39%) of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in this older population, due to high exposure to combat and malevolent environments (Lee et al, 2020). The present study investigated classes of vulnerability and resilience among older South Korean Vietnam War veterans, using a latent profile analysis (LPA) on PTSD symptoms, late onset stress symptomology (LOSS), and mental well-being (MWB).…”