Citation

Kimble MO, Fleming K, Bennion KA. J. Interpers. Violence 2013; 28(8): 1672-1692.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0886260512468319

PMID

23334188

Abstract

Hypervigilance toward ambiguous or threatening stimuli is a prominent feature in many trauma survivors including active and returning soldiers. This study set out to investigate the factors that contribute to hypervigilance in a mixed sample. One hundred forty-five individuals, 50 of whom were war zone veterans, filled out a series of questionnaires including the Hypervigilance Questionnaire (HVQ; Kimble, Fleming, & Bennion, 2009). Other participants included military cadets, college undergraduates, and a traumatized community sample. In this sample, a history of military deployment and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms independently predicted hypervigilance. The findings suggest that deployment to a war zone, in and of itself, can lead to hypervigilant behavior. Therefore, characterizing hypervigilance as pathological in a veteran sample must be done so with caution.

Language: en