Daniel W King

Boston University | BU · Department of Psychology

Objectives: Late-onset stress symptomatology (LOSS) is a phenomenon observed in older combat veterans who experience increased combat-related thoughts, feelings, and reminiscences corresponding with the changes and challenges of aging. Previously, we developed the LOSS Scale to assess LOSS. This paper describes the development and validation of a...

Later-adulthood trauma reengagement (LATR) is a phenomenon occurring among older Veterans who were exposed to stressful war-zone events in early adult years, functioned relatively successfully into adulthood, but begin to reminisce about combat-related experiences as they confront challenges of aging (e.g., retirement). LATR is conceptualized as a...

About a decade ago we proposed the notion of late-onset stress symptomatology, to characterize the later-life emergence of symptoms related to early-life warzone trauma among aging combat Veterans. We hypothesized that aging-related challenges (role transition and loss, death of family members and friends, physical and cognitive decline) might lead...

The present study examined fluctuation over time in symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among 34 combat veterans (28 with diagnosed PTSD, 6 with subclinical symptoms) assessed every 2 weeks for up to 2 years (range of assessments = 13-52). Temporal relationships were examined among four PTSD symptom clusters (reexperiencing, avoidance,...

Military deployment may adversely affect not only returning veterans, but their families, as well. As a result, researchers have increasingly focused on identifying risk and protective factors for successful family adaptation to war-zone deployment, re-integration of the returning veteran, and the longer-term psychosocial consequences of deployment...

Despite increased attention to the evolving nature of war, the unique challenges of contemporary deployment, and women's changing role in warfare, few studies have examined differences in deployment stressors across eras of service or evaluated how gender differences in deployment experiences have changed over time. Using data collected from two na...

A longitudinal life span model of factors contributing to later-life positive adjustment was tested on 567 American repatriated prisoners from the Vietnam War. This model encompassed demographics at time of capture and attributes assessed after return to the United States (reports of torture and mental distress) and approximately three decades late...

The circadian rhythm of the liver maintains glucose homeostasis, and disruption of this rhythm is associated with type 2 diabetes. Feeding is one factor that sets the circadian clock in peripheral tissues, but relatively little is known about the role of specific dietary components in that regard. We assessed the effects of dietary iron on circadia...

The Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory (DRRI) is a widely used instrument for assessing deployment-related risk and resilience factors among war veterans. A revision of this instrument was recently undertaken to enhance the DRRI's applicability across a variety of deployment-related circumstances and military subgroups. The resulting suite of...

The concepts of resilience to highly stressful life events and the possibility of personal growth following trauma are topics of interest to military psychologists seeking to understand the full array of responses to life-threatening situations. Two perspectives on measuring these constructs are offered and sample instruments/methods are provided t...

Military Psychologists' Desk Reference is the authoritative guide in the field of military mental health, covering in a clear and concise manner the depth and breadth of this expanding area at a pivotal and relevant time. It brings together the field's top experts to provide concise and targeted reviews of the most salient aspects of military menta...

The mediating role of posttraumatic stress symptomatology (PSS) on the association between warzone exposure and physical health symptoms in 7 bodily systems (cardiovascular, dermatological, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, musculoskeletal, neurological, and pulmonary) was examined. We also examined if mediation effects varied as a function of sex....

To search efficiently for blind geothermal systems, general geographic regions must first be identified based upon gross characteristics which together imply favorable heat flow, fluid flow, and permeability. Geothermal occurrence models seek to strategically identify those promising locations to focus exploration efforts and investment. In so doin...

Objective: To further elucidate the nature of illness in veterans of the 1990 to 1991 Gulf War (GW) by examining the GW Illness (GWI) definition advanced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which specified caseness as having at least one symptom from two of the three factors: fatigue, mood-cognition, and musculoskeletal. Methods:...

This chapter provides an overview of risk and protective factors that may account for posttraumatic responses. In addition to risk and protective factors specifically for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the outcomes of resilience and posttraumatic growth are considered. Emphasis is placed on the importance of a longitudinal and especially a l...

Background: The purpose of this study was to document the associations of stressors (combat exposure, retirement concerns, and late-life stressful events), personal resources (social support, sense of mastery, and positive appraisal of military experiences), and functional health (both physical and mental) with life satisfaction in older veterans....

Objective: To assess the discriminant validity of late-onset stress symptomatology (LOSS) in terms of its distinction from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Method: The LOSS Scale, PTSD Checklist - Civilian Version, and related psychological measures were administered to 562 older male combat veterans via a mailed questionnaire. Analyses foc...

Our earlier study of U.S. prisoners of war in Vietnam (King et al., 2011) examined personal and military demographics and aspects of the stressful experience of wartime imprisonment as they related to psychological well-being shortly after homecoming in 1973. Research with repatriated prisoners of war (RPWs) from other military eras suggests that t...

The goal of this study was to explore sleep quality as a potential mediator between depression symptoms and diabetes quality of life (DQOL), and anxiety symptoms and DQOL. Participants were 83 male and 3 female veterans with type 2 diabetes (Mage = 62.4). Self-report measures were completed during the baseline assessment of a larger intervention st...

Captivity stressors and coping strategies were assessed shortly after the repatriation of Vietnam-era prisoners of war, and physical and mental health were assessed almost three decades later. Given research on coping goodness-of-fit, specifically the extent to which coping effects depend on situational controllability, we proposed that endorsement...

Abstract Evidence across a multitude of contexts indicates that social support is associated with reduced risk for mental health symptoms. More information is needed on the effectiveness of different sources of support, as well as sex differences in support. Associations between social support from two sources - the military unit and friends and fa...

Terrorism creates lingering anxiety about future attacks. In prior terror research, the conceptualization and measurement of coping behaviors were constrained by the use of existing coping scales that index reactions to daily hassles and demands. The authors created and validated the Coping with Terror Scale to fill the measurement gap. The authors...

This study examined posttraumatic stress symptomatology (PSS) as a mediator of the association between military sexual trauma and post-deployment physical health. Relationships were examined in a sample of 83 female veterans of the first Gulf War (1990-1991) approximately 10 years post-deployment. Participants reported on the frequency of sexual ha...

Women may face particular challenges adjusting to the military environment, in part due to their numerical minority status in a traditionally male culture. In addition, women are more likely than men to experience the added stressor of sexual harassment. We examined several potential mediators of the relationship between gender-role egalitarianism...

This study relied on archival data from repatriation examinations and debriefings of 241 U.S. Naval aviators, Army soldiers, and Marines who were held as prisoners of war during the Vietnam era. In addition to descriptive information, we examined relations between personal and military demographics (e.g., marital status, age, length of military ser...

This report describes the development and initial validation of the Response to Stressful Experiences Scale (RSES), a measure of individual differences in cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to stressful life events. We validated this instrument with active-duty and reserve components of military and veterans samples (N = 1,014). The res...

This study addressed predictors of change in posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among youths who had experienced physical injuries. The influences of pretrauma internalizing and externalizing problems, prior stressor exposure, and gender were investigated. Additionally, gender was examined as a moderator of the associations between internalizing...

This study examined the impact of killing on posttraumatic stress symptomatology (PTSS), depression, and alcohol use among 317 U.S. Gulf War veterans. Participants were obtained via a national registry of Gulf War veterans and were mailed a survey assessing deployment experiences and postdeployment mental health. Overall, 11% of veterans reported k...

This prospective study examined: (a) the effects of Iraq War deployment versus non-deployment on pre- to postdeployment change in PTSD symptoms and (b) among deployed soldiers, associations of deployment/postdeployment stress exposures and baseline PTSD symptoms with PTSD symptom change. Seven hundred seventy-four U.S. Army soldiers completed self-...

This study examined the correlates of general aggression among a nationally representative sample of male and female Vietnam veterans (N = 1,632). Findings indicated that the rates of aggression for men and women were 41% and 32%, respectively, and men appeared to perpetrate relatively more acts of severe aggression. Correlates of aggression for me...

Depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are highly comorbid conditions that may arise following exposure to psychological trauma. This study examined their temporal sequencing and mutual influence using bivariate latent difference score structural equation modeling. Longitudinal data from 182 emergency room patients revealed level of de...

This study examined the structure of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as measured by the Impact of Event Scale–Revised (IES-R; Weiss & Marmar, 1997), tested factorial invariance for samples of 235 Israeli emergency room patients and 306 U.S. undergraduate students, and then evaluated factorial invariance over multiple occasions within the emerg...

The purpose of this article is to provide recommendations for writing a successful R13 conference grant proposal for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The authors reviewed successful NIH conference grant proposal abstracts. They also reflect on their own experience in writing an NIH conference grant proposal and implementing a successful ann...

To evaluate the impact of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on health-related functioning, we assessed 800 U.S. Army soldiers before and after 1-year military deployments to Iraq. As part of the Neurocognition Deployment Health Study procedures, each soldier completed at both time points self-report indexes of PTSD symptom severity, health behav...

Risk factors associated with war-zone events and circumstances are implicated in the health and adjustment of military veterans. We assessed a national stratified sample of community-residing veterans of the Gulf War (N = 357) using scales from the Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory, along with an array of mental (posttraumatic stress disorde...

The Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory (DRRI) is a suite of scales that can be used to assess deployment-related factors implicated in the health and well-being of military veterans. Although initial evidence for the reliability and validity of DRRI scales based on Gulf War veteran samples is encouraging, evidence with respect to a more conte...

A comprehensive understanding of the stressors of the Iraq War is needed to ensure appropriate postdeployment assessments and to inform empirical inquiries. Yet we are unaware of any published studies that address the range of stressors experienced by this cohort. Thus, in the present study, we report the results of an interpretive literature revie...

The increased use of National Guard and Reserve (NG/R) military personnel in current conflicts raises the question of whether deployment experiences and their associations with posttraumatic stress symptomatology differ for active duty and NG/R military personnel. To date, very few studies are available on this topic. Moreover, it is unclear whethe...

This study examined the impacts of intimate partner aggression by female Vietnam veterans and their male partners on their children’s behavior problems (N = 100 children). Veteran and partner psychological distress were also examined as potential mediators of these relationships. Results indicated that physical and psychological aggression perpetra...

Uncertainty exists about the prevalence, severity, and correlates of mental disorders among people exposed to Hurricane Katrina. To estimate the prevalence and associations between DSM-IV anxiety-mood disorders and hurricane-related stressors separately among prehurricane residents of the New Orleans metropolitan area and the remainder of the areas...

This study examined relations between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity and several family adjustment variables among a sample of 89 female Vietnam veterans and their male relationship partners. Findings revealed associations between PTSD symptom severity and measures of marital adjustment, family adaptability, family cohesion,...

A randomized between-group design was used to evaluate the efficacy of a video intervention to reduce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health problems, implemented prior to the forensic medical examination conducted within 72 h post-sexual assault. Participants were 140 female victims of sexual assault (68 video/72 nonvideo) a...

This study investigated predictors of mental and physical health care service utilization among 1,632 male (n = 1,200) and female (n = 432) Vietnam veterans who participated in the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study. Using Anderson's theory as a model (Anderson & Bartkus, 1973), the authors examined both direct and mediated relationships...

This study examined the association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology and aggressive behavior among a sample of male Vietnam veterans (N = 1,328). Results indicated that the hyperarousal PTSD symptom cluster evidenced the strongest positive association with aggression at the bivariate level when compared with the other PTS...

Although posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) factor analytic research has yielded little support for the DSM-IV 3-factor model of reexperiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal symptoms, no clear consensus regarding alternative models has emerged. One possible explanation is differential instrumentation across studies. In the present study, the autho...

This study's goal was to develop a measure of late-onset stress symptomatology (LOSS). LOSS is a phenomenon observed in aging combat veterans who (a) were exposed to highly stressful combat events in their early adult years, (b) have functioned successfully throughout midlife with no history of chronic stress-related disorders, but (c) begin to reg...

The present study examined the relationship between intimate partner psychological aggression and children's behavior problems in a community sample of families (N = 470 children). The results showed that psychological aggression experienced by the mother has adverse effects on children's externalizing and internalizing behavior problems over and a...

Our goal in this chapter is to facilitate clearer thinking about how risk factors may work together to influence PTSD following trauma exposure. This we accomplish by applying a risk factor framework proposed by Kraemer and her colleagues (Kraemer et al., 1997; Kraemer, Stice, Kazdin, Offord, & Kupfer, 2001) to the literature on risk factors for PT...

The authors examined measurement bias in the Hogan Personality Inventory by investigating differential item functioning (DIF) across sex and two racial groups (Caucasian and Black). The sample consisted of 1,579 Caucasians (1,023 men, 556 women) and 523 Blacks (321 men, 202 women) who were applying for entry-level, unskilled jobs in factories. Alth...

In this study, we identified deployment-related and demographic predictors of several factors of posttraumatic growth in a sample of combat-exposed Gulf War I veterans. Participants were obtained via a Veterans Administration registry of Gulf War I veterans and were mailed a survey containing a number of scales assessing predeployment, deployment,...

In this article, the authors introduce a latent difference score (LDS) approach to analyzing longitudinal data in trauma research. The LDS approach accounts for internal sources of change in an outcome variable, including the influence of prior status on subsequent levels of that variable and the tendency for individuals to experience natural chang...

This study examined the nature of the association between social support and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology among 2,249 male veterans of the 1990-1991 Gulf War. Using structural equation modeling, a cross-lagged panel analysis indicated a strong negative relationship between PTSD at Time 1 and social support at Time 2, while so...

The Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale (SRES) was developed to measure attitudes toward the equality of women and men across content domains representing marital, parental, employment, social–interpersonal–heterosexual, and educational roles. The instrument exists in four versions: two alternate 95-item full forms and two alternate 25-item abbreviated f...

To develop a model of risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in parents of children with burns. Immediately following the burn and 3 months later, parents reported on their children's and their own psychological functioning and traumatic stress responses. Approximately 47% of the parents reported experiencing significant pos...

Despite the proliferation of longitudinal trauma research, careful attention to timing of assessments is often lacking. Patterns in timing of assessments, alternative time structures, and the treatment of time as an outcome are discussed and illustrated using trauma data.

This article describes the development of an inventory to assess key psychosocial risk and resilience factors for military personnel and veterans deployed to war zones or other hazardous environments. Part 1 details the definition and operationalization of the 14 constructs: 2 predeployment factors (e.g., childhood family environment), 10 deploymen...

This study examined partner violence and perceived family functioning among a sample of 298 male veterans and their female partners. Partner violent men were higher than partner violent women on measures of partner violence severity, although differences did not reach statistical significance. Among couples experiencing unidirectional violence, fem...

The goal of this study was to develop a model of risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a group of acutely burned children. Seventy-two children between the ages of 7 and 17 who were admitted to the hospital for an acute burn were eligible for study. Members of families who consented completed the Child PTSD Reaction Index, the Mu...

An Erratum has been published for this article in Journal of Traumatic Stress 18(3) 2005, 271–284 [ ]. Findings indicate that war‐zone exposure has negative implications for the postdeployment adjustment of veterans; however, most studies have relied on limited conceptualizations of war‐zone exposure and focused on male samples. In this study, an a...

Findings indicate that war-zone exposure has negative implications for the postdeployment adjustment of veterans; however, most studies have relied on limited conceptualizations of war-zone exposure and focused on male samples. In this study, an array of deployment stressors that were content valid for both female and male Gulf War I military perso...

The purpose of this study was to (1) estimate the prevalence of acute stress disorder (ASD) in a sample of burned children, and (2) determine risk factors for ASD in these children. Seventy-two children were assessed for acute stress disorder approximately 10 days after being hospitalized for a burn. Variables hypothesized to predict ASD symptoms (...

In this study, the authors identified potential risk factors for partner violence perpetration among a subsample (n=109) of men who participated in a national study of Vietnam veterans. Partner violent (PV) men with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were compared with PV men without PTSD and nonviolent men with PTSD on family-of-origin variables...

This two-part investigation examined associations between service in Vietnam and indices of long-term general life adjustment using a national sample of male and female members of the Vietnam generation. In Study I , we documented reasonably high levels of satisfac-tion and attainment among Vietnam veterans, levels that differed minimally, on avera...

This study examined relationships between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and parenting satisfaction. Total PTSD severity scores and avoidance and emotional numbing symptoms were significantly associated with parenting satisfaction. These associations remained significant even after controlling for partner violence, major depression,...

A review of articles in Psychological Assessment reveals that many researchers develop instruments without the benefit of consultation with members of the target population. To the extent that researchers do consult the target population, most fail to bring consultation in early enough to inform the identification and specification of key construct...

This study examined the association between gender-role ideology (scores on a nonegalitarian- egalitarian attitudinal dimension) and features of intimate partner aggression, with attention to how this relationship varied as a function of gender. Undergraduates from a large northeastern urban university (N = 250) completed measures of relationship q...

The purpose of this investigation was to test a multivariate family model in order to gain insight into the consequences of male-perpetrated marital violence, specifically the effects of this violence on the wife's mental health and their children's behavior problems. Data from 260 male veteran-female partner dyads who had one or more children were...

Traditional methods for analyzing trends in longitudinal data have typically emphasized average group change over time. In this article, we propose multilevel, regression-based methods for examining inter-individual differences in intra-individual change and apply these methods to research in trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The out...

Using structural equation modeling, we examined the impact of early-life stressors, war-zone stressors, and PTSD symptom severity on partner's reports of recent male-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) among 376 Vietnam veteran couples. Results indicated that several variables demonstrated direct relationships with IPV, including relationsh...

To assess the psychometric properties of the Child Stress Disorders Checklist (CSDC), a 36-item observer-report instrument that measures acute stress and posttraumatic symptoms in children. The CSDC was administered to parents of 43 children with acute burns and 41 children who had experienced a traffic crash. This instrument was also administered...