Vietnam veteran levels of combat : perceived and actual violence

The purpose of the study was to investigate if a relationship exists between levels of combat experienced by Vietnam veterans and later perceptions of violence, violent attitudes, and violent participants: heavy combat Vietnam veterans; light combat Vietnam veterans; Vietnam era veterans; and non-veteran (civilian) friends of Vietnam veterans.Calvert's Brief Demographic Questionnaire (BDQ), Part 2, checked pre-military predisposition toward having later problems; Figley's Combat Experience Questionnaire (CEO) divided Vietnam combat veterans into heavy and light categories; Wilson's Vietnam Veteran Scenario and Questionnaire examined perceptions of violence by Vietnam veterans; Bardis' A Violence Scale investigated violent attitudes; and Straus' Conflict Tactics (CT) Scales (adapted) measured behavioral violence. The .05 level of statistical significance was used.Findings1. None of the four groups were predisposed to having later problems as measured by Calvert's BDO, Part 2.2. There were no significant differences among groups in perceiving the Vietnam veteran in Wilson's Scenario as being violent.3. Bardis' scale indicated no group differences in terms of having violent attitudes.4. Vietnam combat veterans did not score significantly higher on a majority