Early-Life Military Exposures and Functional Impairment Trajectories Among Older Male Veterans: The Buffering Effect of Psychological Resilience

Abstract

Our findings point to the importance of psychological resilience in later life, especially within the realm of traumas occurring in early life. We discuss implications for current military training programs, stressing the importance of research considering individual resources and processes that promote adaptation in the face of adverse life events.

Buffering Function

“…Studies adopting the life-course perspective document the role of later life resources in buffering early life disadvantages and trauma (Landes et al 2014;Taylor et al 2019). Analyzing a dataset of 636 men from the Harvard Sample and Inner City Cohort of the 73-year longitudinal Study of Adult Development, Landes et al (2014) showed that midlife generativity, a desire to guide the future generation, moderates the negative impact of childhood adversity on later-life adjustments to aging.…”

“…Childhood adversity does not have a long-term effect if one acquires generativity, an indicator of psychological development and resilience (Landes et al 2014) (see ▶ "Generativity and Adult Development"). Psychological resilience also helps veterans to suffer less from functional impairment resulting from early-life traumatic military exposures (Taylor et al 2019). Received support and neighborhood satisfaction as social resources ameliorate a negative association between adverse childhood experiences and adult well-being (Nurius et al 2015).…”

“…Specifically, a cumulative disadvantage theory suggests that individuals who began with health and socioeconomic disadvantages tend to become more disadvantaged over the years (Dannefer 2003) (see ▶ "Theory of Cumulative Disadvantage/Advantage"). Buffering resources in mid-and later life may mitigate the ramifications of early-life disadvantages by moderating negative life trajectories (Ferraro et al 2016;Taylor et al 2019).…”

The Impact of Military Service Exposures and Psychological Resilience on the Mental Health Trajectories of Older Male Veterans

“…Military stressors are associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and post-traumatic growth (Park et al, 2008), which suggest that some veterans can access or activate resources to cope with combat exposures, while others cannot. Recent studies find that negative consequences of traumas may be counteracted or mitigated by psychological resilience (Spiro et al, 2016; Taylor et al, 2019), an internal resource shaping the ways adversities experienced during young to mid-adulthood influence well-being over the life course (Smith & Hayslip, 2012). Exploring mental health outcomes attributed to DDW exposure, given a veteran’s potential for adaptive response, is necessary to better understand the processes placing veterans at increased risk.…”

The Role of Maternal Relationship in the Persisting Effect of Combat Exposure

“…Combat exposure is associated with higher psychiatric and health-related problems, and treatment-related costs (Dohrenwend et al, 2006; Gade & Wenger, 2011; Price, Risk, Haden, Lewis, & Spitznagel, 2004; Richardson, Frueh, & Acierno, 2010; Toblin et al, 2012). These negative effects are thought to be driven substantially by specific traumas such as exposure to death or hazardous toxins that are often experienced during wartime combat (Taylor, Ureña, Carr, & Min, 2018). Studies now find that measuring these specific exposures is important in understanding the lasting burden of service for today’s older veterans, but often research includes only a marker of likely wartime service as a general proxy (Ureña, Taylor, & Kail, 2017).…”