Lifetime major depression and comorbid disorders among current-era women veterans

Drug use and childhood-, military- and post-military trauma exposure among women and men veterans

“…The findings also support prior research on issues of gender among these relationships, indicating that (1) female veterans report more non-combat trauma exposure prior to, during, and after the military relative to males (Freedy et al, 2010;Sadler et al, 2004); (2) despite increased combat exposure for women in recent eras, males still report significantly more combat exposure than female veterans (Polusny et al, 2014;Street et al, 2013); (3) female veterans report more depressive symptoms than male veterans (Curry et al, 2013;Iverson et al, 2011;Lapierre et al, 2007;Luxton et al, 2010;Maguen et al, 2010); (4) no gender differences were found in PTSS among this veteran cohort (Vogt et al, 2011); and (5) similar to the larger U.S. population (SAMSHA, 2013), male veterans in this sample reported greater drug abuse symptoms compared to female veterans. Thus, findings suggest that women are more likely to internalize or cope with problems via emotionally-focused behaviors, such as depressive symptoms (Kilmartin, 2005) and men are more likely to externalize through alcohol or drug use (SAMSHA, 2013).…”

“…Males reported significantly more combat exposure than female veterans (Polusny et al, 2014;Street et al, 2013). Also consistent with previous research, female veterans reported more depressive symptoms than male veterans (Curry et al, 2013;Iverson et al, 2011;Lapierre et al, 2007;Luxton et al, 2010;Maguen et al, 2010). Similar to new research on this current veteran cohort (Vogt et al, 2011), no gender differences were found in PTSS among this veteran sample.…”

“…Despite higher rates of depression among female than male veterans (Curry et al, 2013;Luxton et al, 2010;Tanielian and Jaycox, 2008) and women experiencing more non-military traumas throughout the lifespan (Freedy et al, 2010;Sadler et al, 2004), rates of SUDs are higher among civilian men and male veterans (Iverson et al, 2011;Maguen et al, 2010;Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2013;Westermeyer et al, 2009). Thus, risk for drug use conferred by trauma exposure and posttraumatic and depressive symptoms may be greater for male than female veterans.…”

Eating disorders and associated mental health comorbidities in female veterans

“…First, a large proportion of service members in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are younger than veterans from previous conflicts and may be more susceptible to EDs (Curry et al, 2014). Second, given the high rate of overweight and obesity among veterans (Vieweg et al, 2007), ED behaviors may persist or develop following discharge from service as veterans attempt to lose or control their weight.…”

“…One investigation of 1004 female veterans found that 4.7% had been diagnosed with an ED, and an additional 11.5% reported that they had ED symptoms (Forman-Hoffman et al, 2012). A second study administered the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV and found that 4.6% of female veterans ( n = 346) and 0.7% of male veterans ( n = 1354) of the current Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts had a lifetime history of any ED (Curry et al, 2014). Thus, EDs affect a considerable number of female veterans.…”