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One-fifth of female airmen in combat get PTSD

About 20 percent of Air Force women who have deployed since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 are experiencing at least one major symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a survey of 1,114 service women conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan.

The study, by the university’s Institute for Social Research, found that in the Air Force women surveyed, work-family conflict is a significant predictor of PTSD, according to a news release posted on the American Psychological Association’s Web site.

“This finding is important because there are things we can do to help minimize work-family stress and the toll it is taking on women in the military,” Col. Penny Pierce, a reservist who is running the study, said at the association’s annual meeting.

The findings are preliminary and have not yet been published in a scientific journal.

Nearly half the women surveyed said their home lives rarely or never interfered with their work.

But the researchers found that women who experienced higher levels of family-work conflict were more likely to have symptoms of depression and anxiety, according to the APA Web site.

“We cannot hope to take away the stress of combat, but the additional stress caused by family-work conflicts can be modified,” Pierce said. “Steps can be taken to reduce the anxiety and depression of service women who are worried about what is happening on the home front.”

The survey is part of an ongoing study co-headed by Pierce, an associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing. The study is funded in part by a Defense Department grant.

About 62 percent of the 1,114 who participated had deployed in a war theater, according to the news release. Seventy-four percent were enlisted, and 26 percent were officers.