Skip to main content

Stress-Related Mental Health Symptoms in Coast Guard: Incidence, Vulnerability, and Neurocognitive Performance.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Servatius, RJ; Handy, JD; Doria, MJ; Myers, CE; Marx, CE; Lipsky, R; Ko, N; Avcu, P; Wright, WG; Tsao, JW
Published in: Front Psychol
2017

U.S. Coast Guard (CG) personnel face occupational stressors (e.g., search and rescue) which compound daily life stressors encountered by civilians. However, the degree CG personnel express stress-related mental health symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) is understudied as a military branch, and little is known concerning the interplay of vulnerabilities and neurocognitive outcomes in CG personnel. The current study addressed this knowledge gap, recruiting 241 active duty CG personnel (22% female) to assess mental health, personality, and neurocognitive function. Participants completed a battery of scales: PTSD Checklist with military and non-military prompts to screen for PTSD, Psychological Health Questionnaire 8 for MDD, and scales for behaviorally inhibited (BI) temperament, and distressed (Type D) personality. Neurocognitive performance was assessed with the Defense Automated Neurobehavioral Assessment (DANA) battery. Cluster scoring yielded an overall rate of PTSD of 15% (95% CI: 11-20%) and 8% (95% CI: 3-9%) for MDD. Non-military trauma was endorsed twice that of military trauma in those meeting criteria for PTSD. Individual vulnerabilities were predictive of stress-related mental health symptoms in active duty military personnel; specifically, BI temperament predicted PTSD whereas gender and Type D personality predicted MDD. Stress-related mental health symptoms were also associated with poorer reaction time and response inhibition. These results suggest rates of PTSD and MDD are comparable among CG personnel serving Boat Stations to those of larger military services after combat deployment. Further, vulnerabilities distinguished between PTSD and MDD, which have a high degree of co-occurrence in military samples. To what degree stress-related mental healthy symptoms and attendant neurocognitive deficits affect operational effectiveness remains unknown and warrant future study.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Front Psychol

DOI

ISSN

1664-1078

Publication Date

2017

Volume

8

Start / End Page

1513

Location

Switzerland

Related Subject Headings

  • 52 Psychology
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Servatius, R. J., Handy, J. D., Doria, M. J., Myers, C. E., Marx, C. E., Lipsky, R., … Tsao, J. W. (2017). Stress-Related Mental Health Symptoms in Coast Guard: Incidence, Vulnerability, and Neurocognitive Performance. Front Psychol, 8, 1513. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01513
Servatius, Richard J., Justin D. Handy, Michael J. Doria, Catherine E. Myers, Christine E. Marx, Robert Lipsky, Nora Ko, Pelin Avcu, W Geoffrey Wright, and Jack W. Tsao. “Stress-Related Mental Health Symptoms in Coast Guard: Incidence, Vulnerability, and Neurocognitive Performance.Front Psychol 8 (2017): 1513. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01513.
Servatius RJ, Handy JD, Doria MJ, Myers CE, Marx CE, Lipsky R, et al. Stress-Related Mental Health Symptoms in Coast Guard: Incidence, Vulnerability, and Neurocognitive Performance. Front Psychol. 2017;8:1513.
Servatius, Richard J., et al. “Stress-Related Mental Health Symptoms in Coast Guard: Incidence, Vulnerability, and Neurocognitive Performance.Front Psychol, vol. 8, 2017, p. 1513. Pubmed, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01513.
Servatius RJ, Handy JD, Doria MJ, Myers CE, Marx CE, Lipsky R, Ko N, Avcu P, Wright WG, Tsao JW. Stress-Related Mental Health Symptoms in Coast Guard: Incidence, Vulnerability, and Neurocognitive Performance. Front Psychol. 2017;8:1513.

Published In

Front Psychol

DOI

ISSN

1664-1078

Publication Date

2017

Volume

8

Start / End Page

1513

Location

Switzerland

Related Subject Headings

  • 52 Psychology
  • 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology