Sexual Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Warfighters in Army STARRS
Abstract
The current report presents an update of results from the previous annual report. A great deal of progress has been made over the past year. The most exciting results are those that focus on the association between self-reported risk and protective factors in the Army STARRS New Soldier Survey (NSS), which was administered during reception week, and subsequent administrative records showing that the new soldiers in the NSS either were perpetrators or victims of Military Sexual Trauma (MST) over their first two years of Army service. We used machine learning methods to develop optimal prediction equations from the NSS data. Even though final models have not yet been completed, preliminary results are very positive: showing that the 10% of new male soldiers classified as having highest risk of MST perpetration were responsible for 58.3% of all actual MST perpetration that occurred over the next two years, while the 5% of new female soldiers classified as having highest risk of MST victimization were involved in 32% of all actual MST victimization that occurred over the next two years. These percentages can only increase with model refinements that will be made over the next few months. Concentrations of risk as high as these are actionable, as they can be used to target high-risk new soldiers for enhanced preventive intervention efforts aimed at reducing incidence of MST.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA600509
Entities
People
- Ronald Kessler
Organizations
- Harvard University