TITLE:
Social support and coping as moderators of perceived disability and posttraumatic stress levels among Vietnam theater veterans
AUTHORS:
Erin Martz, Todd Bodner, Hanoch Livneh
KEYWORDS:
Disability; Social Support; PTSD;Vietnam Veterans
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.2 No.4,
May
4,
2010
ABSTRACT: The dual purpose of this study is to investigate whether disability predicts posttraumatic stress levels among Vietnam theater veterans, and whether coping and/or social support moder- ates the impact of disability on PTSD levels, after controlling for demographic, pre-military, military, and post-military factors. This research analyzed data from the U.S.’s National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS), which was a nationally representative, stratified, random sample of 3,016 Vietnam veterans. The results indicated that disability, emotional support, instrumental support, and wishful – thinking coping significantly predicted PTSD, when controlling for demographic, pre-military, military, and post-military factors. Further, interactions indicated that both emotional social support and problem-solving coping significantly decreased the impact of disability on PTSD levels. Implications of this research are briefly discussed.