The Mediating Role of Alexithymia in the Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Postdeployment Mental Health in Canadian Armed Forces Personnel

Abstract

Recent studies showing an association between adverse childhood experiences and the development of alexithymia in military personnel have generated interest regarding the role of alexithymia in the pathway linking childhood trauma exposure to mental health disorders. Accordingly, the current study was conducted to (a) examine the associations among adverse childhood experiences, alexithymia, and symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among recently deployed Canadian military personnel and (b) assess the mediating role of alexithymia in these associations. Data collected from 2,927 members of the Canadian Armed Forces at baseline and after their return from an overseas deployment were subjected to a prospective path analysis. The results of the path analysis, R 2 = .35, pointed to a significant direct effect of childhood adversity on postdeployment mental health symptoms. Contrary to our expectations, the results also pointed to a negative indirect effect of childhood neglect, suggesting that childhood neglect contributed to lower levels of postdeployment depression and PTSD symptoms through the dimension of alexithymia related to difficulty in describing feelings. These patterns of associations, for the most part, persisted even when accounting for combat exposure during recent deployments, R 2 = .42. The present results are discussed in light of study limitations and methodological considerations, and policy and clinical implications are noted. Adverse childhood experiences (ACE), including child abuse, exposure to intimate partner violence, and neglect, have a range of physical and mental health consequences (Felitti et al., 1998; Gahm, Lucekno, Retzlaff, & Fukada, 2007). Several large, well-designed studies have assessed the role of cumulative ACEs and other traumatic events as potential risk factors for mental health conditions among currently serving military personnel (

Sex and gender: More than just demographic variables

“…Of those articles that did include race, ethnicity, or ethno-cultural identity, these important components of social identity were treated solely as demographic variables, without implementing GBA+ in the analysis. [10][11][12][13][14] Fourteen of the articles were based on data collected in projects with data collection ending in 2016, [10][11][12][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] and seven did not clearly indicate when their data were collected, [26][27][28][29][30][31][32] raising the question of whether GBA+ was considered when the projects were initially conceived and data collection occurred.…”