MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Childhood maltreatment increases U.S. military troops' odds of experiencing military sexual stressors, U.S. researchers say.
Dr. Maureen Murdoch of the Minneapolis Veterans Administration Health Care System and University of Minnesota Schools of Medicine and Public Health and colleagues sought to learn more about the association between military sexual stress and psychiatric symptoms by controlling for other stressors.
The study, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, indicated childhood maltreatment and other high magnitude stressors -- such as being in a serious accident or a natural disaster -- were more strongly associated with participants' current psychiatric symptoms than were their military sexual experiences, such as sexual harassment.
Working in a military unit seen as tolerating sexual harassment was associated with reporting more types of military sexual stressors and with reporting more psychiatric symptoms. Findings remained the same when men and women were analyzed separately.
"Eradicating tolerance for military sexual harassment might also reduce troops' risk of experiencing military sexual stressors and reduce psychiatric symptoms," Murdoch says in a statement.
Murdoch and colleagues surveyed 681 long-term, active duty military personnel who used Veterans Affairs' health services.
