Gender-Based ViolenceSexual Assault, Sexual Harassment, and Physical Victimization during Military Service across Age Cohorts of Women Veterans
Section snippets
Study Population
Data were collected via a web-based survey about women veterans' health from February to May 2013. Details of recruitment procedures have been previously reported (Lehavot, Browne, & Simpson, 2014). Briefly, advertisements were disseminated to online listservs serving women veterans and via Facebook, a social networking website. Because the original main aim of the survey was to describe differences between sexual minority and heterosexual women veterans, sexual minority women were oversampled
Characteristics of the Sample
The study sample was largely Caucasian (84.1%), middle-aged (mean, 48.94 years; SD, 15.52), heterosexual (62.9%), and educated (college graduate or more, 52.6%; Table 1). Although the youngest cohorts (18–24 and 25–34 years) overwhelmingly completed their service in the current Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND) era, other cohorts' service experience was spread across multiple service eras (Figure 1).
Prevalence of Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment, and Physical Victimization
Sexual assault, sexual harassment, and
Discussion
Using data from a national online survey of women veterans, we found variation in the prevalence of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and physical victimization during military service by age cohort, even after accounting for race/ethnicity, education, amount of time spent in service, and sexual orientation. Although recent attention to this issue has largely focused on younger women, the likelihood of reporting these adverse experiences in this sample was highest among women in midlife, aged
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by funding from the VSN-20 Mental Illness, Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) to Drs. Lehavot and Simpson. Dr. Lehavot was supported by a VA Career Development Award from CSR&D (1K2 CX000867).
The authors have no conflicts of interest. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government.
Carolyn J. Gibson, PhD, MPH, is an Advanced Fellow in Women's Health at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. Her research focuses on women's mental health, the menopausal transition, and healthy aging.
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Carolyn J. Gibson, PhD, MPH, is an Advanced Fellow in Women's Health at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. Her research focuses on women's mental health, the menopausal transition, and healthy aging.
Kristen E. Gray, PhD, is a Post-doctoral Fellow in Health Services Research & Development at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. Her research focuses on chronic disease and health disparities among women veterans.
Jodie G. Katon, PhD, is a Health Science Research Specialist at VA Puget Sound Health Care System and Senior Epidemiology Consultant for VA Office of Women's Health Services. Her research focuses on reproductive health of women veterans.
Tracy L. Simpson, PhD, is a Clinician Investigator, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, and Associate Professor, University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Her work focuses on PTSD and substance use comorbidity and randomized clinical trials.
Keren Lehavot, PhD, is Core Investigator at the Health Services Research & Development, Center of Innovation, VA Puget Sound, and Assistant Professor, University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Her research focuses on women veterans' mental health and health disparities.