Posttraumatic Growth and Depreciation in Military Veterans: A Gender-Stratified Latent Profile Analysis

Objective: Over the past few decades, there has been a substantial increase of interest worldwide in how trauma can cause posttraumatic changes such as posttraumatic growth (PTG) and posttraumatic depreciation (PTD), and whether there exist gender-specific patterns of such changes. Despite the increase in interest, no studies have yet examined PTG and PTD in gender stratified models. Method: Latent profile analysis was used to explore PTG and PTD using the Posttraumatic Change Scale-Short Form in a gender stratified sample of Afghanistan veterans (n = 6,205, 8.3% females). Associations between profiles and predictors (trauma type), and outcome variables (anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress symptoms) were explored using R3STEP and Bolck-Croon-Hagenaars procedures in Mplus. Results: A three-profile model was found to be the best fitting model for female veterans, while a five-profile model was optimal for the male veterans, indicating there are gender-specific patterns in posttraumatic change. For both females and males, higher loads of trauma exposure were associated with conforming to the depreciation profiles, however, growth-related profiles also reported more trauma experiences than the no-change profile. Belonging to the depreciation profiles was associated with higher symptoms of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress for both female and male veterans. Conclusion: A person may experience posttraumatic depreciation in one life domain, and at the same time growth in another. Male and female veterans differ in their unique profiles of posttraumatic change. Awareness of idiosyncratic profiles of growth and depreciation may improve postdeployment support and intervention strategies.