Background: Despite the increasing number of female service members in the US and internationally, previous studies examining gender-specific deployment outcomes are limited due to disproportionate sample sizes. Military medical personnel serve as a promising population to better understand gender-specific military psychological outcomes across a deployment cycle.
Objectives: To evaluate differences in risk factors and psychological health in female and male medical personnel across a combat deployment.
Design: A cross sectional cohort study of medical personnel (48% female) in the United States Air Force deployed to Iraq between 2004 and 2011 assessed predeployment (N = 759), middeployment (N = 902), and postdeployment (N = 270).
Methods: Self-reports of traumatic life events, attitudes about deployment experiences, resilience, posttraumatic growth, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety were collected.
Results: At predeployment, females reported greater exposure to traumatic events (t = -3.19, d = -0.23, P < .001), more negative attitudes about the military (t = 3.94, d = 0.29, P < .001), higher symptoms of depression (t = -2.83, d = -0.21, P = .005), and lower resilience (t = 2.41, d = 0.18, P = .016). At middeployment, females reported more negative military experiences (t = 3.51, d = 0.58, P < .001). At postdeployment, females reported more negative military experiences (t = 2.49, d = 0.53, P = .015), greater exposure to military healthcare stressors (t = -2.66, d = 0.57, P = .009), greater severity of posttraumatic stress (t = -3.48, d = 0.74, P < .001) and depression symptoms (t = -3.79, d = -0.81, P < .001).
Conclusions: Female and male medical personnel responded similarly for most deployment-related outcomes. However, some psychological sequalae are higher for females, possibly due to a reduced sense of resiliency prior to deployment and less positive outlook towards the military mission.