Citation

Orme GJ, Kehoe EJ. Mil. Med. 2014; 179(4): 404-412.

Affiliation

School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Matthews Building, Room 903, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Association of Military Surgeons of the United States)

DOI

10.7205/MILMED-D-13-00390

PMID

24690965

Abstract

This study tested whether cognitive hardiness moderates the adverse effects of deployment-related stressors on health and well-being of soldiers on short-tour (4-7 months), peacekeeping operations. Australian Army reservists (N = 448) were surveyed at the start, end, and up to 24 months after serving as peacekeepers in Timor-Leste or the Solomon Islands. They retained sound mental health throughout (Kessler 10, Post-Traumatic Checklist-Civilian, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 42). Ratings of either traumatic or nontraumatic stress were low. Despite range restrictions, scores on the Cognitive Hardiness Scale moderated the relationship between deployment stressors and a composite measure of psychological distress. Scatterplots revealed an asymmetric pattern for hardiness scores and measures of psychological distress. When hardiness scores were low, psychological distress scores were widely dispersed. However, when hardiness scores were higher, psychological distress scores became concentrated at a uniformly low level.

Language: en