Recent Sexual Trauma & Adverse Health & Occupational Outcomes among U.S. Service Women

Of 13,001 U.S. service women, 1,364 (10.5%) reported recent sexual harassment and 374 (2.9%) recent sexual assault. Women reporting recent sexual harassment or assault were more likely to report poorer mental health. They reported poorer physical health. They reported difficulties in work/activities due to emotional health. They also reported difficulties with physical health after adjustment for demographic, military, health, and prior sexual trauma characteristics. 

Findings demonstrated that sexual trauma represents a potential threat to military operational readiness and draws attention to the importance of prevention strategies and services to reduce the burden of sexual trauma on military victims.

Via: http://ht.ly/SaOTq 

By: Millegan J1, Milburn EK2, LeardMann CA2, Street AE3,4, Williams D5, Trone DW2, Crum-Cianflone NF2.

• 1Directorate of Mental Health, Naval Medical Center, San Diego, California, USA.
• 2Deployment Health Research Department, Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, California, USA.
• 3National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
• 4Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
• 5Warfighter Performance Department, Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, California, USA.