Health effects of the stressors of extreme environments on military women

This article examines the health effects of generic and unique stressors on military women's health. It is an outgrowth of work performed under the Defense Women's Health Research Program and participation in the Forum on the Health of Women in the Military held at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences on June 17 to 19, 1996. We review gender differences in the effects of stress on health. We comment on some of the methodological challenges in researching gender effects. We hypothesize about some of the ways in which military women may be more vulnerable to specific stressors and/or use different coping strategies than their male counterparts. Finally, we make recommendations about military training and future research.