Marital adjustment, parental functioning, and emotional sharing in war veterans

The current study aimed to examine the implications of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and emotional sharing in marital adjustment and parental functioning among Israeli veterans of the 1982 Lebanon War. The sample consisted of combat stress reaction (CSR) veterans (n = 264) and non-CSR veterans (n = 209). Results show that traumatized veterans reported lower levels of marital adjustment and more problems in parental functioning. Furthermore, higher levels of posttraumatic symptoms, especially avoidance symptoms, were related to a decrease in marital adjustment and parental functioning. Most important, emotional sharing was found to moderate the relation between posttraumatic stress disorder severity and parental functioning. Possible explanations, limitations of the current study, and recommendations for future research are presented.