Abstract
The present study seeks to explore the extent to which war related experience is a causal factor in current psychopathology among WWII and Korean War veterans using a questionnaire approach. A further aim of this study is to validate the Impact of Events Scale on veterans who experienced combat in World War II or Korea. Specifically the study seeks to test the following hypotheses: 1) There are substantial numbers of WWII veterans with current psychopathology. 2) That there would be a correlation between current psychopathology and combat experiences. 3) That "Intrusion" and "Avoidance" would act as mediating variables between the traumatic experiences and current psychopathology. 4) That "Intrusion" of war related experiences would predict current psychopathology. 5) That Prisoners of War would be more severely affected. 6) That among Prisoners of War Far East Prisoners of War would be most severely affected. 7) That there would be an effect of rank, with those holding lower ranks being more severely affected. 8) That there would be an effect of socio-economic status (SES) with those in lower SES groups being more severely affected. 9) That there would be an effect of retirement with those retired being more severely affected.