Follow-up of Vietnam veterans II. Social adjustment

Vietnam veterans were divided into three groups according to their inservice narcotics use: frequent users (n = 98), occasional users (n = 55) and nonusers (n = 49). Using a blind interview procedure the three groups were found to differ in the areas of employment/education, family adjustment, physical health, and depression. A composite “Social Adjustment Factor” was derived from these four areas, and a series of multiple correlations were computed in order to assess the effect of Vietnam drug use on the Social Adjustment Factor when preservice variables were held constant. Both the Social Adjustment Factor and two of its components, family adjustment and depression, continued to correlate significantly with the Vietnam drug group after the influence of preservice variables had been accounted for. Correlations between the two components employment/education and physical health and Vietnam drug group were no longer significant. The authors conclude that current social adjustment is determined by the interaction of pre-service conditions and the Vietnam experience itself.