Psychological assessment of aviators captured in World War II.

Abstract

Psychological assessments, including administration of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and structured interviews for Axis I mental disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) specifically, were used to describe 33 World War II (WWII) aviators who were held as prisoners of war (POWs) for an average of 14 months. Results showed more elevated MMPI profile patterns than expected given previous research with pilots (Butcher, 1994) and rates of current and lifetime PTSD at 33%, reasoned to derive from POW trauma. Despite this level of psychopathology, WWII aviator POW survivors were found to be more resilient to captivity effects than age-similar nonaviator WWII POW survivors characterized generally by less advantages in education, military rank, and other personal resources. Compared with aviator former POWs of the Vietnam War studied in their mid-life years (Ursano, Boydstun, & Wheatley, 1981), the present sample appeared to be less psychologically robust. Studies of former prisoners of war (POWs) have revealed that war captivity is associated with increased vulnerability to physical and psychological illnesses. Yet, some POW survivors do not exhibit psychological distress or mental disorders following trauma cessation (Kluznik, Speed, Van Valkenburg, & Magraw, 1986; Sutker, Allain, & Winstead, 1993; Ursano, Boydstun, & Wheatley, 1981). Of interest are studies of American servicemen, primarily aviators, held as prisoners in North Vietnam for periods extending up to 7 or 8 years. The Ursano et al. (1981) follow-up of 253 former POW aviators revealed that, in addition to the potent impact of stressor severity, such characteristics as rank at shoot down, college education, and status as pilots and navigators were associated with lessened risk for psychiatric morbidity, although 25% of these men were labeled with mental disorders. Ursano et al. (1981) described aviators as a well-educated, intelligent military subset, homogeneous in achievement needs and potentially resistant to mental disorders. Butcher (1994) published Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and MMPI-2 profile patterns of applicants for flight crew positions with a major airline. Results showed that airline pilots, many of whom had served military duty, minimized problems on psychological tests and presented themselves as psychologically robust. These studies shed light on the resilience of pilots generally and survivors of Vietnam POW captivity specifically, but little attention has been directed toward study of