Multidimensional assessment of anger in Vietnam veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder

This study examined the effects of combat exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on dimensions of anger in Vietnam veterans. Vietnam combat veterans were compared with Vietnam era veterans without war zone duty on the Multidimensional Anger Inventory (MAI). Combat veterans were not significantly more angry than their veteran peers who did not serve in Southeast Asia. Additionally, various parameters of war zone duty were not highly associated with anger scores. However, combat veterans with PTSD scored significantly higher than veterans without PTSD on measures of anger arousal, range of anger-eliciting situations, hostile attitudinal outlook, and tendency to hold anger in. These results suggest that PTSD, rather than war zone duty, is associated with various dimensions of angry affect.