The impact of military sexual trauma on parent-infant bonding in a sample of perinatal women veterans.
Depress Anxiety
; 39(3): 201-210, 2022 03.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34633137
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The experience of sexual assault and harassment during military service (military sexual trauma [MST]) is associated with increased risk for perinatal and reproductive health problems among women veterans. The objective of this study was to examine the associations between mothers' MST exposure and mother-infant bonding, as well as to examine whether there are any salient sociodemographic or military service characteristics among women veterans with greater impairment to mother-infant bonding, including stress during pregnancy and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis.METHODS:
This study was a secondary analysis of data collected from prospective, longitudinal study of women veterans using VHA maternity care benefits at 15 VHA medical centers across the US between January 2016 and February 2020. Participants were 697 pregnant veterans using VHA maternity care benefits.RESULTS:
MST was associated with higher maternal depression, and higher maternal depression was associated with poorer mother-infant bonding. The effect of MST on bonding was indirect through depression. PTSD diagnosis and life stressors during pregnancy also had significant indirect pathways with bonding through maternal depression.CONCLUSIONS:
Results underscore the need for access to high quality and trauma-informed perinatal mental health treatment for women veterans, for education on the unique risks conveyed by MST provided to civilian providers treating this population outside VA, and for further research to understand how to ameliorate the harmful effects of MST on perinatal women veterans and their children.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Sex Offenses
/
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
/
Veterans
/
Maternal Health Services
/
Military Personnel
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Pregnancy
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
Depress Anxiety
Journal subject:
PSIQUIATRIA
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States