PREDICTORS OF VETERANS' PHYSICAL HEALTH 1 This is a preprint of an article submitted for consideration in the Anxiety, Stress and Coping [2011] [copyright Taylor & Francis]; Anxiety, Stress and Coping is available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10615806.2010.521238 War exposure and Post-traumatic Stress as Predictors of Portuguese Colonial War Veterans’ Physical Health Ângela Maia 1 , Teresa McIntyre 1,2 , M. Graça Pereira 1 and Eugénia Ribeiro 1 Escola de Psicologia, Universidade do Minho Acknowledgements: The authors wish to thank the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, grant POCTI (POCTI/ESP/39515/2000), for financing this project. The authors are also grateful for the collaboration of the Associação Portuguesa de Veteranos de Guerra and their aid with the data collection. Mailing address: Angela Maia, Escola de Psicologia, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 BRAGA, Portugal; angelam@psi.uminho.pt Abstract The relationship between war exposure and PTSD has been largely investigated but the impact of the combat experience on physical health has only recently merited attention. The authors investigated the relationship between war exposure, psychological and physical health among 350 Portuguese colonial war veterans. The role of current PTSD symptoms as a mediator of these relationships was also investigated. The results showed that 39% of the veterans met criteria for current PTSD diagnosis and psychological distress was present in half of the sample. Pain, fatigue and sleep problems were the most reported physical symptoms and mental health and gastro-intestinal problems, the most reported illnesses. Combat exposure variables were significant predictors of current health. The results indicated that veterans with higher exposure to war trauma maintained higher current levels of psychological distress and presented more physical health problems and physical symptoms than those less exposed. Mediation analyses showed that current PTSD was a full mediator of the relationship between war exposure and physical health outcomes. Key words: war veterans, post-traumatic stress, physical health, predictors, Portuguese veterans 1 School of Psychology, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 BRAGA, Portugal 2 Department of Psychology, University of Houston, 126 Heyne Bldg., Houston, TX 77204-5022, USA