Post‐traumatic stress disorder conflicts in Vietnam combat veterans: A confirmatory factor analytic study

Abstract

Abstract Three hundred and thirty‐nine Vietnam combat veterans with the diagnosis of Post‐traumatic Stress Disorder were administered the Vietnam Related Experiences Questionnaire. The items on this questionnaire were constructed to highlight four combat related conflicts postulated to represent the salient symptom clusters within PTSD: fear‐anxiety, mistrust, survival guilt, and guilt secondary to aggression. Exploratory factor analysis followed by a confirmatory factor analytic procedure using maximum likelihood estimate demonstrated a five‐factor solution: vulnerability, guilt, dreams of death/destruction, depression, and rebelliousness. The factor loadings of the variables and the factor correlations are discussed. Diagnostic features of the questionnaire are highlighted.