Post-traumatic stress in war veterans and secondary traumatic stress among parents of war veterans five years after the 2014 Israel-Gaza military conflict

Figures & data

Table 1. Sample characteristics.

Group	Age (years)	Years of Education	PSL-5
Veterans
DAV	25.5 (1.23) [24–28]	12.6 (1.23) [12–15]	7.2 (6.7) [1–23]
IAV	24.3 (1.28) [23–29]	12.2 (0.8) [12–15]	3.92 (4.6) [1–17]
Mothers			STS
DAV	56 (5.2) [49–67]	16 (2.4) [12–21]	28.6 (8.6) [20–55]
IAV	54.9 (4.6) [43–66]	15.6 (2) [12–18]	26.1 (6.7) [20–43]
Fathers
DAV	58.1 (6.05) [49–72]	15.5 (3) [12–21]	25.5 (7.7) [20–51]
IAV	57.2 (3.8) [52–65]	16 (2.7) [12–21]	21.57 (2.2) [20–26]

Note: Mean, (SD), and [range] for scores on demographics and clinical variables for Directly active veterans’ group (DAV) vs. indirectly active veterans’ group (IAV). PSL-5 – The PTSD Symptom Levels Questionnaire (PSL-5; Gil et al., 2015). STS – Secondary Trauma Questionnaire (Motta et al., 1999).

Figure 1. Results of the correlation analysis. Correlation between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms (measured by the PTSD Symptom Levels Questionnaire – PSL-5) of the directly active war veterans (DAV) and their fathers’ Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) scores (as measured by the Secondary Trauma Questionnaire). Pearson’s r = .493, p = .014.

Gil, S., Weinberg, M., Or-Chen, K., & Harel, H. (2015). Risk factors for DSM 5 PTSD symptoms in Israeli civilians during the Gaza war. Brain and Behavior, 5, e00316. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.316

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Motta, R. W., Kefer, J. M., Hertz, M. D., & Hafeez, S. (1999). Initial evaluation of the secondary trauma questionnaire. Psychological Reports, 85(3), 997–1002. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1999.85.3.997

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Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Leshem et al. (2023).