Childhood Exposure to Family Violence and Attrition in the Navy

Abstract

In a prospective study of U.S. Navy recruits (N=5,491), we examined the relationship between childhood exposure to family violence [child physical abuse (CPA); child sexual abuse (CSA) ; and domestic violence (DV)] and attrition during basic military training (BMT) and for 4 years after BMT. Overall, 55% of the recruits experienced one or more forms of childhood family violence, with women reporting higher rates of CSA and DV. Considered separately, each form of childhood violence was significantly associated with attrition, with similar associations for attrition during and after BMT. When considered simultaneously, all three types of childhood violence were associated with attrition in men; in contrast, only CSA was associated with attrition in women. When males and females experienced all three types of childhood violence, they were 303% and 139%, respectively, more like to attrite compared with recruits who reported no childhood violence.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA591264

Entities

People

  • Cynthia J Thomsen
  • Joel S. Milner
  • Julie L. Crouch
  • Lex L. Merrill
  • Valerie A. Stander

Organizations

  • Naval Health Research Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Air Force
  • Attrition
  • Contrast
  • Crime
  • Domestic
  • Domestic Violence
  • Education
  • Families (Human)
  • Law
  • Military Medicine
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Training
  • New York
  • Sexual Assault
  • Training
  • Victims

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Infectious Disease/Epidemiology
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.
  • Psychometric Testing or Psychological Assessment.