How the potential benefits of active combat events may partially offset their costs.

Abstract

The present research examined how particular types of combat exposure may be associated not only with increased mental health symptoms but also with perceived benefits that are associated with decreased mental health symptoms. Using a longitudinal sample of military personnel who had returned from combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, active combat experiences (such as shooting or directing fire at the enemy) were related to higher levels of perceived benefits following the deployment, whereas passive experiences (such as being the recipient of an attack or witnessing destruction) were not. Perceived benefits 3 months postdeployment were associated with lower posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms 3 months later. A mediational analysis revealed that although active combat experiences were associated with greater PTSD symptoms, a portion of this relationship was reduced as a result of the association between active combat experiences and benefit finding. Discussion focuses on additional research needed on the role of benefit finding in postcombat adjustment, and how employees may derive benefits from their work that predict future mental health symptoms.

How Much Do We Really Know About Employee Resilience?

“…In the workplace, recent research on the distinction between challenge and hindrance stressors would suggest that high levels of challenge stressors might be more likely to be associated with growth related to self-confidence than with high levels of hindrance stressors (LePine et al, 2005). Furthermore, additional research is needed to examine to what extent the growth that may occur following significant adversity at work compensates for the harm done by the adversity (see Britt et al, 2015).…”

News from the front: A monthly study on stress and social support during a military deployment to a war zone.

“…Combat is inherently stressful, as it can pose a direct threat to soldiers’ safety and deplete their resources. Some of the most commonly experienced combat events during U.S. military deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq are associated with combat: witnessing destruction (homes/villages), receiving fire (mortar/artillery rocket fire, small arms fire), being attacked/ambushed, seeing bodies/human remains, knowing someone who is seriously injured or killed, and experiencing hostile reactions from civilians (Britt et al, 2017). Thus, combat stressors include many different events that can occur during deployment, can vary in type and frequency, and can be measured either as a list of specific events or be based more generally on soldiers’ subjective experiences of stressful events (Campbell & Nobel, 2009).…”

“…Cross-sectional and longitudinal research has consistently shown that exposure to deployment stressors is associated with higher PTS symptoms and depression, with data usually collected after returning home from deployments or at the end of deployment (Adler et al, 2009; Armistead-Jehle et al, 2011; Britt et al, 2017; Cigrang et al, 2014; Krauss et al, 2019) or in peacekeeping missions. Less research is available that examines the effects of combat stressors on physical indicators of strain, although some research has shown that physical health problems develop in veterans within a year after deployment (e.g., Eisen et al, 2012; Hoge et al, 2007).…”

“…Regarding more positive outcomes, the findings on positive deployment-related attitudes are mixed (Britt et al, 2017). Some studies have found a weak connection between combat exposure and perceived benefits of deployment (e.g., Jennings et al, 2006), no relationship (e.g., Wood et al, 2011), or the relationship depended on the type of combat (active, passive, witnessing death/destruction; Britt et al, 2017). These findings are based on post-deployment measures, and they may indicate the effects of reappraising combat exposure after deployment.…”

“…Social support and group cohesion in military personnel reduce PTS symptom severity (e.g., Armistead-Jehle et al, 2011; Dickstein et al, 2010; Du Preez et al, 2012; Zang et al, 2017). Similarly, research on the confidence soldiers have in their unit’s functioning, as defined by the combination of group cohesion and collective efficacy, was negatively related to depression (Britt et al, 2017). The benefits of social support may extend to physical strain (Cohen, 1988), but little research has investigated the effects of group cohesion on indicators of physical strain during deployment.…”