Sex Differences, Stress, and Military Readiness.

The goal of this report is to consider the effects of stress associated with combat, deployment, contingency operations, and trauma on military women's health and performance. This volume reviews empirical and theoretical work bearing on issues of sex differences in the effects of stress on mental health and performance, and to consider ways in which knowledge of this work might assist commanders in the integration of women into an effective military force. It is the hope of the authors that this material will prove useful in the development of a structure within which active duty women and men can function effectively. The success of this effort in the military, for which readiness is the singular operating principle, may also provide a model for change in civilian society.