Secondary traumatization among wives of Israeli POWs: the role of POWs' distress.
BACKGROUND
The aim of the study is to examine secondary traumatization of wives of former prisoners of war (POWs) as manifested in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, additional psychiatric symptoms, and marital adjustment. In addition, it assessed the role of several contributors to the wives' secondary traumatization: the husband's PTSD, the level of his verbal and physical aggression, and the wife's level of self-disclosure.


METHODS
The study compared three groups of Israeli wives: wives of POWs with PTSD (N=18), wives of POWs without PTSD, (N=64), and a control group of wives of veterans without PTSD (N=72).


RESULTS
The highest level of distress in all measures was endorsed by the wives of POWs with PTSD. Moreover, in addition to husband's PTSD and captivity, both the man's aggression and the wife's self-disclosure played a role in the wife's level of distress.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings show that the husbands' PTSD was more strongly associated with the wives' secondary traumatization than their captivity.
Dekel
Rachel
R
School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. dekell@mail.biu.ac.il
Solomon
Zahava
Z
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011329:Prisoners; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D014857:Warfare