Original articleUnit Support Protects Against Sexual Harassment and Assault Among National Guard Soldiers
Section snippets
Participants and Procedures
Primary analyses were conducted on the baseline sample drawn from a longitudinal telephone study of trauma exposure and psychopathology among Ohio Army National Guard (OHARNG) service members. The OHARNG specifically was chosen for its similarity in population density and socioeconomic level to reserve component members in the nation as a whole. All OHARNG service members serving as of June 2008 (n = 10,778) as well as those who enlisted between July 2008 and February 2009 (n = 1,792) comprised
Descriptive Statistics
Participants were 34.4 (SD = 9.0) years old on average, 9.4% (n = 158) were ethnic minority, 10.2% (n = 170) were female, 57.3% (n = 959) were married, 15.4% (n = 258) were officers, 35.8% (n = 600) reported a combat military operation specialty, and the average length of deployment was 11.06 (SD = 6.06) months. Approximately 16.2% of service members (n = 272; 13.2% of men [n = 198] and 43.5% of women [n = 74]) reported any sexual harassment during their most recent deployment; 2.9% of service
Discussion
The current study is among the first to examine a potentially malleable military factor that could diminish the odds of experiencing deployment-related sexual harassment and assault. Nearly one in two women and one in seven men reported sexual harassment during their most recent deployment, and nearly one in five women and 1% of men reported sexual assault. Greater unit support protected against sexual harassment and assault for both men and women during military deployment, even after
Implications for Practice and/or Policy
Although our findings do not suggest causality, we found indications that greater unit support was associated with decreased odds of deployment-related sexual harassment and assault. This finding underscores the importance of developing more effective prevention programs and policies that could, potentially, mitigate the odds of sexual harassment and assault. The Army's Morale, Welfare, and Recreation regulations (Headquarters of the Army, 2010), which include social, fitness, recreational, and
Dr. Kate Walsh, PhD, is a clinical psychologist completing a fellowship in substance use epidemiology at Columbia University. Her work focuses on the intersection of trauma exposure, particularly sexual violence, psychopathology, and substance use disorders in military and civilian populations.
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Cited by (0)
Dr. Kate Walsh, PhD, is a clinical psychologist completing a fellowship in substance use epidemiology at Columbia University. Her work focuses on the intersection of trauma exposure, particularly sexual violence, psychopathology, and substance use disorders in military and civilian populations.
Dr. Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, a physician and epidemiologist, is Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University. His work focuses on causes of brain disorders, particularly mood-anxiety and substance use disorders, and he has an interest in consequences of trauma.
Magdalena Cerdá, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University. Her research focuses on lifecourse influences on substance use onset and continuity, new drivers and forms of illegal substance use, and neighborhood causes and mental health consequences of violence.
Dr. Catherine Richards, MPH, is an epidemiologist at Columbia University where she is manager for the Global Research Analytics for Population Health (GRAPH) Program and lead data visualization designer for the GRAPH website.
Dr. Israel Liberzon, MD, is a Professor Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Michigan. His work centers on emotions, stress and stress related disorders like PTSD, particularly in the regulation and dysregulation of stress response systems.
Dr. Marijo B. Tamburrino, MD, is a psychiatrist at the University of Toledo. Her work is in the areas of posttraumatic stress disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.
Dr. Joseph Calabrese, MD, is a psychiatrist at Case Western Reserve University. His work focuses on the phenomenology and treatment of bipolar disorder, and he also studies mental health and functioning among National Guard personnel.
Dr. Karestan C. Koenen, PhD, is Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University. She uses a developmental approach to examine the interplay of genetic and environmental factors in the etiology of stress-related mental disorders, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression.
The authors acknowledge the following funding sources: T32DA031099, W81XWH-07-1-0409, MH082729, W81XWH-08-2-0204. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. The first author had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.