• Susan M Meffert, Clare Henn-Haase, Thomas J Metzler, Meng Qian, Suzanne Best, Ayelet Hirschfeld, Shannon McCaslin, Sabra Inslicht, Thomas C Neylan, and Charles R Marmar.
• Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
• Plos One. 2014 Jan 1; 9 (7): e100663.

IntroductionIt has been reported that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with secondary spouse/partner (S/P) emotional distress and relationship violence.ObjectiveTo investigate the relationships between PTSD, S/P emotional distress and relationship violence among police recruits using a prospective design.MethodsTwo hypotheses were tested in 71 S/Ps: (1) Police officer reports of greater PTSD symptoms after 12 months of police service will be associated with greater secondary trauma symptoms among S/Ps; (2) Greater secondary trauma symptoms among S/Ps at 12 months will be associated with S/P reports of greater relationship violence.Methods71 police recruits and their S/Ps were assessed at baseline and 12 months after the start of police officer duty. Using linear and logistic regression, we analyzed explanatory variables for 12 month S/P secondary traumatic stress symptoms and couple violence, including baseline S/P variables and couple violence, as well as exposure and PTSD reports from both S/P and officer.ResultsS/P perception of officer PTSD symptoms predicted S/P secondary traumatic stress. OS/P secondary trauma was significantly associated with both total couple violence (.34, p = .004) and S/P to officer violence (.35, p = .003).ConclusionsAlthough results from this relatively small study of young police officers and their S/Ps must be confirmed by larger studies in general populations, findings suggest that S/P perception of PTSD symptoms may play a key role in the spread of traumatic stress symptoms across intimate partner relationships and intimate partner violence in the context of PTSD.

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