Associations between childhood trauma and susceptibility to posttraumatic stress disorder in the military

The purpose of this study is to examine associations between childhood trauma and the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A sample of 38 male and female students between the ages of 18-48 from a southeastern university Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program participated in the study. Online surveys were used to collect data and gain useful knowledge about past (before the age of 17) and current (within the past 3 years) experiences with trauma. Age, combat experience, socioeconomic status, and gender all served as covariates for this study. The types of traumas focused on in this thesis include physical violence, sexual violence, recent traumas, and combat experience. Based on the literature review, it was hypothesized that childhood trauma is associated with military personnel\u27s susceptibility to the development of PTSD. In a study of a military sample, multiple regression results indicated that possessing a history of childhood trauma is significantly related to the symptomology of PTSD. Additional correlation analyses found that while PTSD symptomology was positively correlated with childhood trauma, however, no significant relationship was found between recent traumatic events, gender, socioeconomic status, combat experience, and age