AGGRESSION AND ITS CORRELATES IN VIETNAM VETERANS WITH AND WITHOUT CHRONIC POSTTRAUMATIC-STRESS-DISORDER

This study measured self-reported aggression, hostility, and anger in Vietnam combat veterans with (n = 27) and without (n = 15) posttraumat ic stress disorder (PTSD). On the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, Pas t Feelings and Acts of Violence Scale, Episodic Dyscontrol Scale. and State-Trait Anger Expression inventory (STAXI), PTSD subjects scored s ignificantly higher than non-PTSD Subjects, whose scores fell in the r ange reported for normative, noncombat populations. The PTSD versus no n-PTSD group differences were not explained by combat exposure, which did not correlate significantly with the psychometric aggression measu res. These findings suggest that increased aggression in war veterans is more appropriately regarded as a property of PTSD, rather than a di rect consequence of military combat. The association bei tween comprom ised neurologic and neuropsychologic status and the psychometric measu res was modest and explained little of the group differences.