This pilot study investigates a method by which blind individuals might administer an abbreviated form of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). The six subtests of the verbal portion of the WAIS were recorded on cassette tapes and administered to 24 participants. Reliabilities of each of the subtests and the composite Verbal Short Form (VSF) were comparable to those reported by Wechsler (1955). Correlations between VSF and WAIS verbal and full-scale IQs demonstrated that the VSF is a potentially valid instrument for the measurement of intelligence. Further research with the VSF is suggested to substantiate the generalizability of these preliminary results.
The purpose of this investigation was to test a multivariate family model in order to gain insight into the consequences of male-perpetrated marital violence, specifically the effects of this violence on the wife's mental health and their children's behavior problems. Data from 260 male veteranfemale partner dyads who had one or more children were drawn from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study and analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques. The five latent variables in the structural model were the husband's report of family functioning, the wife's report of family functioning, husband-to-wife marital violence, wife's psychological distress, and child behavior problems. In the structural model of best fit, male-perpetrated marital violence was associated with the wife's level of psychological distress. However, most of this association flowed indirectly through the intermediary variable of wife's assessment of family functioning. Additionally, the wife's psychological distress was the sole path that linked marital violence to the child's behavior. A series of followup analyses revealed that these findings were invariant across child behavior problem type (i.e., internalizing vs. externalizing problems) and child gender. These findings suggest that interparental violence does impact children, but that it does so through its effect on the psychological state of the mother. Accordingly, these findings reinforce the importance of programs that provide services to women and their children who are living in violent households.
Our earlier study of U.S. prisoners of war in Vietnam (King et al., 2011) examined personal and military demographics and aspects of the stressful experience of wartime imprisonment as they related to psychological well-being shortly after homecoming in 1973. Research with repatriated prisoners of war (RPWs) from other military eras suggests that the severity of captivity stressors might predict long-term distress. However, the extent to which effects of the captivity experience persisted for Vietnam-era RPWs is unknown. The present study extended our previous analyses by examining the associations of demographic factors, captivity stressors, and repatriation mental health with subsequent symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depressive symptoms (measured nearly 30 years later) in a sample of 292 Vietnam-era RPWs. Results indicated that although most of the men in our sample were within normal limits on anxiety and depressive symptoms, a substantial minority reported experiencing clinically significant levels. Levels of PTSD symptoms were generally low, with only a modest proportion demonstrating elevations. Multiple regression analyses showed that age at capture and posttraumatic stress symptoms at repatriation predicted all three long-term mental health outcomes. In addition, physical torture predicted long-term PTSD symptoms. Findings highlight the potential long-term effects of wartime captivity, and also suggest that most Vietnam-era RPWs demonstrate remarkable resilience to extraordinarily stressful life experiences.
A longitudinal lifespan model of factors contributing to later-life positive adjustment was tested on 567 American repatriated prisoners from the Vietnam War. This model encompassed demographics at time of capture and attributes assessed after return to the U.S. (reports of torture and mental distress) and approximately 3 decades later (later-life stressors, perceived social support, positive appraisal of military experiences, and positive adjustment). Age and education at time of capture and physical torture were associated with repatriation mental distress, which directly predicted poorer adjustment 30 years later. Physical torture also had a salutary effect, enhancing later-life positive appraisals of military experiences. Later-life events were directly and indirectly (through concerns about retirement) associated with positive adjustment. Results suggest that the personal resources of older age and more education and early-life adverse experiences can have cascading effects over the lifespan to impact well-being in both positive and negative ways.
Military deployment may adversely affect not only returning veterans, but their families, as well. As a result, researchers have increasingly focused on identifying risk and protective factors for successful family adaptation to war-zone deployment, re-integration of the returning veteran, and the longer-term psychosocial consequences of deployment experienced by some veterans and families. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among returning veterans may pose particular challenges to military and military veteran families; however, questions remain regarding the impact of the course of veteran PTSD and other potential moderating factors on family adaptation to military deployment. The Family Foundations Study builds upon an established longitudinal cohort of Army soldiers (i.e., the Neurocognition Deployment Health Study) to help address remaining knowledge gaps. This report describes the conceptual framework and key gaps in knowledge that guided the study design, methodological challenges and special considerations in conducting military family research, and how these gaps, challenges, and special considerations are addressed by the study.
