A recent article published in ARMY Magazine focuses on the results of a study by Melissa Polusny, a researcher for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which examined the role of gender in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study involved approximately 800 National Guard soldiers. Over eleven percent of the soliders in the study were women. The soldiers were evaluated before and after their deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The results of this study indicated that a higher percentage of women screened positive for PTSD than men. The author of the study does note that this result does not mean that women are inherently more prone to developing PTSD than men. Instead, studies like this one are helpful in developing a better understanding of what better prepares soldiers for combat roles and minimizes the chances of developing PTSD. Further study into what common factors there are in the development of PTSD after serving in combat roles can hopefully help us better prevent it in the future.
