Psychological Health and Marital Adjustment in Iranian Employed Veterans and Veterans Receiving Disability Pension

BACKGROUND: Human society has witnessed disasters and wars that left many consequences on families as well as social and individual life of the victims. OBJECTIVES: In this research, we compared the psychological health and marital adjustment in Iranian employed veterans with veterans receiving disability pension. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study participants were all of the veterans of Isfahan city registered in Veterans and Martyr Foundation who were receiving disability pension, were still working, or had not received any disability pension yet. A total of 330 veterans were selected by randomized systematic sampling. The Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) questionnaire and Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) were completed by the participants. The data were analyzed by Chi square test, independent samples t test, and Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: Almost half of the veterans did not demonstrate any psychopathology and half of them were diagnosed with borderline or serious psychopathology. Veterans receiving disability pension had more mental problems in comparison with the employed veterans. Veterans receiving disability pension had higher scores in psychosomatic disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety, phobias, psychoticism, and total scales (general symptom index, GSI) in comparison with the employed veterans. Employed veterans and veterans receiving disability pension did not differ significantly regarding DAS scores. CONCLUSIONS: Occupational condition has an important effect on mental health of veterans.