Journal
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
Volume 74, Issue 4, Pages 537-545Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.10.039
Keywords
Coping; Adaptation; Mental health; Sexual harassment; Stress; Trauma; Women; Iraq; Afghanistan; USA; Veterans; War
Funding
- HSRD VA [I01 HX000915] Funding Source: Medline
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The wars in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom, OEF) have engendered a growing population of US female veterans, with women now comprising 15% of active US duty military personnel. Women serving in the military come under direct fire and experience combat-related injuries and trauma, and are also often subject to in-service sexual assaults and sexual harassment. However, little is known regarding how women veterans cope with these combat and military sexual trauma experiences once they return from deployment To better understand their experiences, we conducted semi-structured interviews with nineteen OEF/OIF women veterans between January November 2009. Women veterans identified stressful military experiences and post-deployment reintegration problems as major stressors. Stressful military experiences included combat experiences, military sexual trauma, and separation from family. Women had varying abilities to address and manage stressors, and employed various cognitive and behavioral coping resources and processes to manage their stress. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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