Predeployment personality traits and exposure to trauma as predictors of posttraumatic stress symptoms: A prospective study of former peacekeepers

Objective: The authors' goal was to study the contribution of predeployment personality traits and exposure to traumatic events during deployment to t he development of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in indiv iduals involved in military peacekeeping activities. Method: Five hundred seventy-two male veterans who participated in the Unit ed Nations Protection Force mission in the former Yugoslavia completed a sh ort form of the Dutch MMPI before deployment. Following deployment, they pa rticipated in a survey of all Dutch military veterans who had been deployed in the years 1990-1995 and completed the Self-Rating Inventory for PTSD. Results: Exposure to traumatic events during deployment had the highest uni que contribution to the prediction of PTSD symptom severity, followed by th e personality traits of negativism and psychopathology, followed by age. Conclusions: Both pretrauma vulnerabilities and exposure to traumatic event s were found to be important factors in the etiology of posttraumatic stres s symptoms. The current study replicates in a non-American sample of peacek eepers findings obtained among American Vietnam veterans. Particularly, the re is accumulating evidence for an etiological role of the personality trai t of psychoneuroticism in the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms.