Importance of Military Identity in Understanding the Relationship Between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Adverse Family Functioning for Post-9/11 Veterans

Abstract

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms among service members appear to have a stronger impact on functioning in military families compared to civilian families. To better understand this relationship, this study applied the concepts explained by Social Identity Theory to explore how a Veteran’s social identity interacts with PTSD symptoms to affect family functioning. The sample included Veteran parents (N = 291) from San Francisco, CA and Chicago, IL who completed a cross-sectional survey about their well-being and transition out of service, including measures of PTSD, military identity, and family functioning. Linear regression showed a Veteran’s social identification with the military had significant main effects on adverse family functioning (β = 1.5, p = .001) and significantly moderated the relationship between PTSD and adverse family functioning (β = −0.02, p = .03). The interaction shows that higher perceptions of the military as family appeared to attenuate the relationship between PTSD symptoms and adverse family functioning up to a certain point. Our findings suggest that a Veteran’s greater desire to go back to the military or stronger feelings that the military was their family protected the functioning of their family from their PTSD symptoms. However, when a Veteran had the highest possible desire to go back to the military or the strongest feeling like the military was their family, there was no effect on the relationship between PTSD symptoms and family functioning. Findings suggest the need to better understand how dimensions and strength of military identity can affect the relationship between PTSD symptoms and family functioning.