Prospective study of police officer spouse/partners: a new pathway to secondary trauma and relationship violence?

Introduction: It has been reported that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with secondary spouse/partner (S/P) emotional distress and relationship violence.

Objective: To investigate the relationships between PTSD, S/P emotional distress and relationship violence among police recruits using a prospective design.

Methods: Two hypotheses were tested in 71 S/Ps: (1) Police officer reports of greater PTSD symptoms after 12 months of police service will be associated with greater secondary trauma symptoms among S/Ps; (2) Greater secondary trauma symptoms among S/Ps at 12 months will be associated with S/P reports of greater relationship violence.