A moderated mediation test of personality, coping, and health among deployed soldiers

Abstract

SummaryOur study examines how personality and coping influence soldiers' psychological health among 648 US Army personnel who were at that time deployed in Iraq at the height of an insurgency. Conscientiousness, neuroticism, and extraversion were associated with different coping behaviors, and these were in turn related to psychological distress. Conscientiousness was positively associated with problem-focused coping and negatively with avoidance coping, whereas neuroticism was most positively associated with avoidance coping. Extraversion was positively related to both seeking social support and avoidance coping. As expected, avoidance coping was positively associated with psychological distress. Coping style explained more variance in the relationship between personality and distress among soldiers who perceived higher levels of threat, thus supporting a moderated mediation hypothesis. We discuss implications for facilitating the stress coping of workers who face acute and potentially traumatic stress exposures. Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Keywords: personality; coping; combat stress; psychological distress IntroductionPhysically dangerous work, such as that of first responders and military personnel, is known to have adverse health consequences even for those who are not injured or killed (Jermier, Gaines, & McIntosh, 1989). These symptoms may arise not only from the threatening conditions these workers face regularly but also from witnessing very distressing events. Soldiers at war are a dramatic case in point. The wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq have produced a new generation of veterans who are at potential risk for chronic mental health problems (Litz, 2007). A comprehensive investigation of soldiers deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq showed that 19 per cent of veterans returning from Iraq reported having mental health problems (Hoge, Auchterlonie, & Milliken, 2006), and 13 per cent of the soldiers deployed to Iraq met the screening criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the first 3-4months after returning home (Hoge et al., 2004). Research has demonstrated a positive association between traumatic exposures and PTSD among workers who practice high-risk activities, including firefighters (e.g., Wagner, Heinrichs, & Ehlert, 1998), police (Robinson, Sigman, & Wilson, 1997), and deployed soldiers (e.g., Bramsen, Dirkzwager, & Van de Ploeg, 2000). There are also studies linking coping strategies to health outcomes among workers who were exposed to traumatic situations (Benotsch Journal of Organizational Behavior, J. Organiz. Behav. 33, 512-530 (2012) Published online 5 August 2011 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/job.766 This article is a U.S. government work, and is not subject to copyright in the United States. Brown, Mulhern, & Joseph, 2002;Haisch & Meyers, 2004). Avoidance coping (e.g., denying reality, using alcohol or drugs) is generally found to be maladaptive across a variety of traumatic situations (e.g., Benotsch et al., 2000;Chung, Farme...

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