Australian Vietnam veterans: factors contributing to psychosocial problems.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of the present paper is to present comprehensive models of the current psychosocial morbidity of Australian Vietnam veterans. Seldom has research in this area attempted to 'untangle' direct and indirect influences on current functioning via possible pre-army, Vietnam and homecoming pathways.


METHODS
The Australian Vietnam Veterans' Health Study gathered data on a sample of 641 veterans throughout Australia drawn randomly from army Vietnam tour lists of the era. The data arose from interview and army records of the era, and fall into four temporal categories: pre-army, Vietnam service, homecoming after Vietnam, and current state. Path analysis models of the veterans' current psychological morbidities and social wellbeing are used to identify direct aetiological influences of earlier era constructs on current state, free of confounding by indirect (often selection) effects.


RESULTS
Our results indicate that psychological morbidity (particularly posttraumatic stress disorder) is largely influenced by combat and poor homecoming experiences, although pre-military characteristics do play some direct roles in symptomatology. Social dysfunction measures show smaller effects of the Vietnam War, which may be accounted for by an indirect association with Vietnam-related psychological morbidity. Some social measures show evidence of compensatory influences of combat, high combat leading to social dysfunction because of morbidity, but simultaneously being associated with healthier social disposition (possibly because of increased exservice activity).


CONCLUSIONS
For Australian Vietnam veterans, combat-related and homecoming effects persist on a range of psychosocial endpoints 20-30 years after exposure. These effects are not explicable in terms of veterans pre-Vietnam characteristics.
Centre for Education and Research on Ageing, Repatriation General Hospital at Concord, New South Wales, Australia.
D A
DA
Grayson
R P
RP
Marshall
M
M
Dobson
B I
BI
O'Toole
R J
RJ
Schureck
M
M
Ffrench
B
B
Pulvertaft
L
L
Meldrum
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012917:Social Adjustment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014744:Vietnam