ABSTRACT

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) Veterans report greater emotional distress, trauma exposure, and PTSD rates than both LGB civilians and non-LGB Veterans. Traumatic experiences impact intimate relationships, potentially placing LGB Veterans at higher risk of relationship dysfunction secondary to trauma and PTSD. However, limited research has examined links between relationship functioning and trauma histories among couples with one or more LGB-identifying partners. In this exploratory study, participants include 21 couples from a larger treatment study comprising a PTSD-diagnosed Veteran and their significant other in which at least one partner identified as LGB. Variables included trauma experiences, PTSD symptom severity, and relationship satisfaction. A descriptive analysis revealed high relationship satisfaction despite high interpersonal trauma rates among both PTSD-diagnosed Veterans and their partners. Further, we found different patterns of relationship functioning depending on whether a participant had experienced sexual assault. These initial analyses present novel data on trauma in treatment-seeking LGB veteran couples and provide an important basis for future research on couple-based mental health treatments for this population.

 抽象的

女同性恋、男同性恋和双性恋 (LGB) 退伍军人报告的情绪困扰、创伤暴露和 PTSD 比率比 LGB 平民和非 LGB 退伍军人更高。创伤经历会影响亲密关系，可能使 LGB 退伍军人面临继发于创伤和 PTSD 的关系功能障碍的更高风险。然而，有限的研究调查了有一个或多个性取向认同伴侣的夫妇之间的关系功能和创伤史之间的联系。在这项探索性研究中，参与者包括来自一项大型治疗研究的 21 对夫妇，其中包括一名被诊断为 PTSD 的退伍军人和他们的另一半，其中至少有一个伴侣被确定为 LGB。变量包括创伤经历、创伤后应激障碍症状严重程度和关系满意度。一项描述性分析显示，尽管诊断为 PTSD 的退伍军人及其伴侣的人际创伤率很高，但他们的关系满意度很高。此外，我们发现不同的关系模式取决于参与者是否经历过性侵犯。这些初步分析提供了有关寻求治疗的 LGB 退伍军人夫妇创伤的新数据，并为未来针对该人群进行基于夫妇的心理健康治疗的研究提供了重要基础。