Publication year
2017
Citation Title
Predictive validity and correlates of self-assessed resilience among U.S. Army soldiers.
Journal Name
Depression and Anxiety
Page Numbers
1-10
DOI
10.1002/da.22694
Summary
Resilience is important for Service members' mental health; however, little is known about the associations between self-assessed resilience and Service members' well-being. This study had 35,807 new Soldiers complete a survey regarding their resilience, mental disorders, childhood maltreatment, and personal growth. In addition, 8,558 experienced Soldiers also completed the same survey at four different time points both before and after deployment. Results indicated that self-assessing resilience is a valid way to predict Soldiers' well-being, especially in stressful situations like deployment.
Key Findings
Both new and experienced Soldiers reported a high level of resilience, and male Soldiers reported a higher resilience level than female Soldiers.
Childhood maltreatment was negatively associated with both new and experienced Soldiers' resilience level.
Experienced Soldiers who had high resilience before deployment were less likely to suffer from emotional disorders (e.g., depression, posttraumatic stress disorder) and more likely to experience personal growth after deployment.
Implications for Program Leaders
Develop workshops for Service members on how to increase their resilience level
Offer support groups for female Service members to help to increase their resilience levels
Provide outreach services that increase awareness of available supports to military families during deployment
Implications for Policy Makers
Encourage awareness campaigns on military bases regarding the importance of resilience for Service members
Recommend continued monitoring of Service members' well-being by letting them complete self-assessed resilience surveys
Recommend professional development for professionals working with Service members on common factors that may decrease Service members' resilience level and how to help them cope with these factors
Methods
The new Soldiers were recruited shortly before the Basic Combat Training and 77% of them consented to participate in the study.
The experienced Soldiers were recruited from three Brigade Combat Teams and 86% of them consented to the study. They were surveyed one to two months before deployment (baseline), within one month of their return (T1), three months later (T2), and nine months later (T3); 60% of the baseline sample completed the whole study.
Measures in this study included resilience, mental disorders and suicidal ideation, personal growth, childhood maltreatment, recent stress, and demographic information.
Data were analyzed to examine the associations between Soldiers' resilience score and their mental health outcomes.
Participants
Participants were 35,807 new Soldiers and 8,558 experienced Soldiers.
The age and gender of the Soldiers were not reported.
The race/ethnicity of the Soldiers were not reported.
Limitations
The study was based on self-report data, which made it vulnerable to memory bias and social-desirability bias.
The resilience scale was designed specifically for the study, so the reliability and validity of the scale were not tested.
All participants were in the Army; therefore, caution must be taken to generalize the results to other military branches.
Avenues for Future Research
Use objective data (e.g., hospital records, clinical diagnosis) to increase the reliability of a similar study
Recruit participants from all military branches so that the findings can be better generalized
Explore methods (e.g., workshops, support groups) that may increase Service members' resilience level
Focus
Army
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Branch
Military Component
Abstract
Self-assessment of resilience could prove valuable to military and other organizations whose personnel confront foreseen stressors. We evaluated the validity of self-assessed resilience among U.S. Army soldiers, including whether predeployment perceived resilience predicted postdeployment emotional disorder. Resilience was assessed via self-administered questionnaire among new soldiers reporting for basic training (N = 35,807) and experienced soldiers preparing to deploy to Afghanistan (N = 8,558). Concurrent validity of self-assessed resilience was evaluated among recruits by estimating its association with past-month emotional disorder. Predictive validity was examined among 3,526 experienced soldiers with no lifetime emotional disorder predeployment. Predictive models estimated associations of predeployment resilience with incidence of emotional disorder through 9 months postdeployment and with marked improvement in coping at 3 months postdeployment.Weights-adjusted regression models incorporated stringent controls for risk factors. Soldiers characterized themselves as very resilient on average [M = 14.34, SD = 4.20 (recruits); M = 14.75, SD = 4.31 (experienced soldiers); theoretical range = 0–20]. Demographic characteristics exhibited onlymodest associations with resilience, while severity of childhood maltreatment was negatively associated with resilience in both samples. Among recruits, resilience was inversely associated with past-month emotional disorder [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.62–0.68, P < .0005 (per standard score increase)]. Among deployed soldiers, greater predeployment resilience was associated with decreased incidence of emotional disorder (AOR = 0.91; 95% CI = 0.84–0.98; P = .016) and increased odds of improved coping (AOR = 1.36; 95% CI = 1.24–1.49; P < .0005) postdeployment. Findings supported validity of self-assessed resilience among soldiers, although its predictive effect on incidence of emotional disorder was modest. In conjunction with assessment of known risk factors, measurement of resilience could help predict adaptation to foreseen stressors like deployment.
Abstract Document
PRTW Document
Attach