The Effect of PTSD and Combat Level on Vietnam Veterans' Perceptions of Child Behavior and Marital Adjustment

Investigated the effects of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and combat level (CL) on 40 Vietnam veterans' (aged 39–67 yrs) perceptions of their children's behavior, as well as its effects on their marital adjustment. Measures included the Military Stress Scale and the Child Behavior Checklist. The predictor variables of PTSD and CL together explained 33.6% of the variance in perceived child behavior problems and 51.8% of the variance in marital adjustment. PTSD and CL together also reliably predicted internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in addition to 4 specific areas of marital adjustment: dyadic consensus, satisfaction, affection expression, and cohesion. When observed individually, however, it was shown that child behavior problems and marital adjustment were predicted primarily by PTSD, rather than CL.