Lifetime comorbid trauma exposure for Northern Ireland veterans: a latent class analysis

Background: Trauma is often experienced comorbidly, especially for military veterans. Veterans exposed to political/post-political conflict may experience unique trauma comorbidities. Many Northern Ireland (NI) veterans were impacted by the Troubles conflict and remain within a society that is shaped by the Troubles’ legacy. It is useful to understand trauma comorbidity for NI veterans as unique trauma comorbidity may drive more complex mental health difficulties. Method: Data was taken from 609 NI veterans via the SLESQ and Life Events Checklist-DSM-5. Latent class analysis was conducted to determine that distinct groups existed that experienced similar comorbid trauma. Findings: Three trauma groups were elicited. Class 1 (10.84%): the ‘multi-trauma class’, endorsed high levels of most traumas including caregiver and sexual trauma. Class 2 (47.62%): endorsed high levels of ‘combat/conflict but non-sexual trauma’. Class 3 (41.54%): was the ‘lower probability’ class. Despite class 3 experiencing lower levels of trauma exposure, this was not ‘low’. Endorsements of explosions, present at injury/death, losing loved ones, serious injury and gruesome exposure was high for most. Discussion: Comorbid trauma exposure was highly likely for NI veterans, particularly conflict/combat related trauma. Comorbid trauma was experienced inside and outside military service