This study assessed the associations of employee’s perceptions of family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) and their psychological distress across four occupational populations (n = 3778): Information technology; healthcare; military-connected Veterans; and National Guard service members. Data were gathered and analyzed from four larger archival datasets to compare differences in these relationships. Results revealed significant negative relationships between employee reports of FSSB and their psychological distress within occupations, as expected. Furthermore, results revealed significant differences across occupational populations for employee reports of both FSSB and psychological distress. Hierarchical moderated multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the extent of these mean differences across groups. Results revealed significant differences among these four groups such that the military-connected Veteran employees demonstrated significantly stronger associations of FSSB, and psychological distress compared to the other three occupations of information technology, healthcare, and National Guard service members. These findings suggest the importance of FSSB to worker psychological health across a variety of occupational populations, specifically noting the importance and presence of FSSB for Veteran employees’ psychological distress in civilian workplaces. Practical implications include the need for training leaders on how to better support employees’ work and non-work lives, mental health, and well-being.
Significant evidence links combat exposure to psychiatric disorders and poor mental health outcomes in service members, creating the need to elucidate the factors associated with promoting psychological health and resilience in the military. Social identity theory postulates that an individual’s identification with a group, such as the military, can be instrumental in the provision of a sense of belongingness that is crucial for social integration, meaning and support during times of difficulty. This study examined how collective military identification interacted with the effects of combat exposure on mental health outcomes, in light of the protective capacity of social belongingness to support psychological health and resilience. I conducted a secondary analysis on a sample of 430 veterans and active duty reservists representing all branches of the military, who had deployed at least once. I hypothesized that collective military identity would provide a buffer against the deleterious effect of combat exposure on mental health, such that those with stronger levels of collective military identification would show a weaker relationship between combat exposure and poor mental health outcomes – assessed in terms of PTSD, psychological distress and perceived stress. My results indicated that collective military identity and combat exposure were both significantly and positively associated with PTSD symptoms; however, collective military identity did not buffer the effect. The findings present an unexpected, positive relationship between collective military identity and PTSD symptoms in veterans and reservists with the need for future research to further clarify this relationship.
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