Deployment stressors and posttraumatic stress symptomatology: Comparing active duty and National Guard/Reserve personnel from Gulf War I

The increased use of National Guard and Reserve (NG/R) military personnel in current conflicts raises the question of whether deployment experiences and their associations with posttraumatic stress symptomatology differ for active duty and NG/R military personnel. To date, very few studies are available on this topic. Moreover, it is unclear whether the impact of military status differs for women and men. We addressed these research issues in a sample of 311 female and male Gulf War I veterans. Several differences were observed in deployment stressor exposures and results based on differential associations generally suggested more negative impacts of deployment experiences for active duty women and NG/R men. The potential role of unit cohesion in explaining these findings is discussed.