Positive Tertiary Appraisals and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in U.S. Male Veterans of the War in Vietnam: The Roles of Positive Affirmation, Positive Reformulation, and Defensive Denial

A 70.9% majority of the U.S. male veterans in a nationwide sample appraised the impact of their service in Vietnam on their present lives as mainly positive. A substantial minority, 41.7%, judged the effects to be highly salient. With controls on level of exposure to war-zone stressors measured with...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of consulting and clinical psychology 2004-06, Vol.72 (3), p.417-433
Main Authors: Dohrenwend, Bruce P, Neria, Yuval, Turner, J. Blake, Turse, Nicholas, Marshall, Randall, Lewis-Fernandez, Roberto, Koenen, Karestan C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptability
Adaptation
Adaptation, Psychological
Adjustment (to Environment)
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Adult Attitudes
Affect
Anxiety disorders. Neuroses
Biological and medical sciences
Clinical psychology
Defense Mechanisms
Denial (Psychology)
Emotional Trauma
Foreign Countries
Human
Humans
Male
Measurement
Medical sciences
Men
Mental health
Mental stress
Middle Aged
Military Personnel
Military Service
Military Veterans
Positive attributes
Post traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Prevalence
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Soldiers
Stress
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - epidemiology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology
Stress Variables
U.S.A
USA
Veterans
Veterans - psychology
Vietnam
Vietnam War
War
Warfare
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Summary:A 70.9% majority of the U.S. male veterans in a nationwide sample appraised the impact of their service in Vietnam on their present lives as mainly positive. A substantial minority, 41.7%, judged the effects to be highly salient. With controls on level of exposure to war-zone stressors measured with data from military records, the valence and salience of these appraisals are investigated in relation to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other indicators of wartime and postwar functioning. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that mainly positive tertiary appraisals are affirmations of successful wartime and postwar adaptation rather than defensive denials related to maladaptive outcomes. The possibility that mainly positive tertiary appraisals also contribute to successful postwar adaptation is discussed.
ISSN:0022-006X
1939-2117
DOI:10.1037/0022-006X.72.3.417