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Longitudinal Correlates of Aggressive Behavior in Help‐Seeking U.S. Veterans With PTSD

2012; Wiley; Volume: 25; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/jts.21761

1573-6598

Hana Shin, Craig S. Rosen, Mark A. Greenbaum, Shaili Jain,

Child Abuse and Trauma

The current study examined the longitudinal effects of clinical and treatment utilization factors on aggressive behavior among 376 help‐seeking U.S. veterans recently diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who were followed for 5–12 months. Participants were sampled from 4 strata: male Iraq/Afghanistan veterans, female Iraq/Afghanistan veterans, male prior‐era veterans, and female prior‐era veterans. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that changes in PTSD severity were significantly associated with changes in aggressive behavior among veterans who reported any aggression at baseline (β = .15). Changes in days of alcohol intoxication also were positively associated with changes in aggressive behavior (β = .16). Participants with both a benzodiazepine prescription and any baseline aggression were significantly more likely to increase in aggressive behavior over time (β = .14). Contrary to our hypotheses, reductions in aggressive behavior were not related to the number of outpatient mental health visits or to first‐line recommended psychotropic medications. Results inform assessment and clinical research on changes in aggressive behavior among veterans with PTSD.