Social support and coping as moderators of perceived disability and posttraumatic stress levels among Vietnam theater veterans

The dual purpose of this study is to investigate whether disability predicts posttraumatic stress levels among Vietnam theater veterans, and whether coping and/or social support moderates the impact of disability on PTSD levels, after controlling for demographic, pre-military, military, and post-military factors. This research analyzed data from the U.S.’s National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS), which was a nationally representative, stratified, random sample of 3,016 Vietnam veterans. The results indicated that disability, emotional support, instrumental support, and wishful – thinking coping significantly predicted PTSD, when controlling for demographic, pre-military, military, and post-military factors. Further, interactions indicated that both emotional social support and problem-solving coping significantly decreased the impact of disability on PTSD levels. Implications of this research are briefly discussed.