Occupational Stressors in Military Service: A Review and Framework

Abstract

The identification of stressors and the evaluation of their likely severity in the different settings and phases of military service are essential requirements for developing a comprehensive understanding of military occupation stress and for developing stress-reducing strategies useful for enhancing unit performance and for promoting soldiers' health. As an initial step in meeting these requirements, this article reviews and compares the likely sources and severity of occupational stress across several broad types of military environments-i.e., garrison versus deployed and combat versus noncombat-and presents an integrating framework for systematically considering military occupational stress in these subenvironments. Discussion focuses on the contributions the framework makes and on the kinds of military stress research needed in the future.Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. military's traditional mission of warfighting has expanded to include multiple new tasks (e.g., assisting natural disaster victims; delivering humanitarian aid; peacekeeping; nation-building, etc.); and these new military undertakings have substantially added to the likelihood that soldiers at all levels will experience stress during their service tours. Further, although researchers and health professionals currently know a great deal about the causes and effects of occupational stress on workers and work performance (e.g., Cooper,

Daily hassles, their antecedents and outcomes among professional first responders: A systematic literature review

“…Time was also found to be important and the most stressful periods were the preparation and follow‐up stages of the deployment. Campbell and Nobel () and Nilsson, Hyllengren, Ohlsson, Kallenberg, Waaler & Larsson () point to the physical and cultural environment at large during military operations as a stressor (e.g. extreme climate and terrain, value clash, language problems, etc.…”

“…Eight studies dealt with various aspects of non‐work‐related aspects. The dominating theme was potential conflicts between job and private life roles (Brough, ; Campbell & Nobel, ; MacDonald et al ., ). Examples of work hassles that affected private life were aspects such as long hours, shift work, military deployments, etc.…”

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“…We did not collect information of this type, though it is worthwhile highlighting the results of Figure . That W‐EI was more consequential at higher levels of neuroticism suggests that W‐EI could be a better predictor of job performance within more stressful jobs or during times of greater stress, such as combat (Campbell & Nobel, ). This possibility makes sense (Nikolaou & Tsaousis, ) and would benefit from follow‐up.…”

“…This begins with basic training, which can be harsh and humiliating (Redmond et al, 2015). Subsequently, one may endure long periods of boredom when stationed and combat stress when deployed (Campbell & Nobel, 2009). The requirements of the military amplify traditional stressors related to role requirements, transitions, and culture, while adding qualitatively new stressors endemic to physical and psychological uncertainty (Campbell & Nobel, 2009).…”

Military veteran perpetrators of intimate partner violence: Challenges and barriers to coordinated intervention

“…This difference is amplified in the context of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with stressors stemming from multiple deployments and mission ambiguity (Campbell & Nobel, 2009). Thus, the nature of military stress and training poses a unique challenge to developing and coordinating intervention with military perpetrators of IPV.…”