Democrat veterans suffer more PTSD than Republicans -- Political Affiliation, Probable PTSD, and Symptoms of Depression in Veterans

Political Affiliation, Probable PTSD, and Symptoms of Depression in Iraq and Afghanistan Combat Veterans: A Pilot Study. Lating, Jeffrey M. et al. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease: October 2017 - Volume 205 - Issue 10 - p 809–811. doi: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000000715

Abstract: Ideological commitment of military personnel has been associated with mitigating trauma and protecting mental health. This pilot study assessed whether Democratic and Republican political affiliation differentially predicted probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and symptoms of depression in 62 male Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans. The Liberalism-Conservatism Scale, the PTSD Checklist-Military Version (PCL-M), and the Patient Health Questionnaire–9 (PHQ-9) were assessment measures. Results revealed that Democratic combat veterans had stronger liberal attitudes than Republican combat veterans (r = 0.95). Moreover, of the 50% of the entire sample higher than the cutoff score of 50 on the PCL-M, 84.8% were Democrats compared with 10.3% of Republicans. On the PHQ-9, 46.9% of Democrats compared with 3.7% of Republicans were higher than the cutoff score of 20. These initial results suggest possible mechanisms of action, including differences in shattered world view assumptions, willingness to disclose emotional concerns, and physiological reactions between Democratic and Republican combat veterans.

My commentary: It is just a pilot study, so we don't know how representative is. They say that Democrat veterans suffer more PTSD than Republicans. Explanations are: "The large effects sizes found in these data suggest the possibility worth exploring further that identified political affiliation might capture a shattered world view occurring more in Democrat than Republican combat veterans. Moreover, because Republicans are more likely than Democrats to report being in better mental health (Newport, 2007), it is possible that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to disclose emotional concerns, and thus more likely to complete these types of studies. In addition, there are data to suggest that there might be basic structural differences in the brains of those who identify as conservative or liberal (Oxley et al., 2008). Therefore, it might be worth investigating if these possible differences are related to the physiological diatheses associated with PTSD and depression (Elbejjani et al., 2015; Pitman et al., 2012)."