Spiritual Well-Being, Intrinsic Religiosity, and Suicidal Behavior in Predominantly Catholic Croatian War Veterans With Chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

We investigated relationships between spiritual well-being (SWB), intrinsic religiosity (IR), and suicidal behavior in 45 Croatian war veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder and 32 healthy volunteers. Compared with the volunteers, the veterans had significantly lower SWB scores (p = 0.000) and existential well-being (EWB) scores (p = 0.000). Scores on the religious well-being (RWB) subscale (p = 0.108) and the IR scale did not differ significantly between the groups (p = 0.803). Veterans' suicidality inversely correlated with SWB (p = 0.000), EWB (p = 0.000), RWB (p = 0.026), and IR (p = 0.041), with the association being stronger for the EWB subscale than for the RWB subscale. Veterans who had attempted suicide at least once in their lifetime had significantly higher Suicidal Assessment Scale scores and lower EWB scores than veterans who never attempted suicide. Low EWB scores may imply an increased risk of suicidality. Some religious activities were more frequent among the veterans than among the healthy volunteers, possibly reflecting the veterans' increased help-seeking behavior due to poor EWB.

Suicide among War Veterans

“…Suicide rates are usually not calculated and compared to the general population; however, some research has been performed on Russian veterans ( i.e. , Afghanistan and Chechnya), British Falkland conflict veterans, and Croatian local war veterans [39,40]. Deahl and co-authors [6] suggest that mental health problems of ex-military are diverse, polymorphic and have psychosocial consequences like social exclusion, homelessness, self-harm and substance abuse.…”

Childhood Maltreatment and PTSD: Spiritual Well-Being and Intimate Partner Violence as Mediators

“…This is consistent with what was expected, as the literature describes that African American women efficiently utilize protective factors of empowerment and resilience, such as spiritual means to cope with stress and reduce psychological symptoms (Taylor et al, 2004). Further, research with other populations has supported the links between both religious and existential well-being and PTSD symptoms (Lee & Waters, 2003; Nad et al, 2008). While existential and religious well-being both correlated with PTSD symptoms in the mediational model, existential well-being had a stronger association.…”

“…Studies with different populations have found that childhood maltreatment serves as a risk factor for lower levels of existential well-being, whereas one form of childhood maltreatment, childhood sexual abuse, has been linked to lower levels of religious well-being (Feinauer, Middleton, & Hilton, 2003; Weber & Cummings, 2003). Further, a negative association has been revealed between spiritual well-being, particularly existential well-being, and levels PTSD symptoms (Nad, Marcinko, Vuksan-Æusa, Jakovljevic, & Jakovljevic, 2008). However, a paucity of research examines these connections among African Americans.…”

Meaning Made of Stress among Veterans Transitioning to College: Examining Unique Associations with Suicide Risk and Life‐Threatening Behavior

“…In particular, we included demographic factors, such as age, ethnicity (0 = Caucasian , 1 = ethnic or racial minority ), gender (0 = male , 1 = female ), and years of education in the statistical analyses. We also included assessments of previously examined predictors of suicide risk among veterans, including presence or absence of a strong religious faith (Nađ et al., ; Nelson, ) and presence or absence of a combat‐related injury (Bullman & Kang, ).…”

“…Most of these studies have focused on vulnerabilities, such as having elevated PTSD and depressive symptoms (Guerra & Calhoun, ; Jakupcak et al., ; Krysinska & Lester, ; Pietrzak et al., ), experiencing severe combat stressors and sustaining combat‐related injuries (Bullman & Kang, ), and being male and/or Caucasian (Kaplan et al., ; Zivin et al., ). Other studies have also focused on protective factors, such as psychological resiliency (Pietrzak et al., ), social support (Lemaire & Graham, ), as well as religiousness and existential well‐being (Nađ, Marčinko, Vuksan‐Æusa, Jakovljević & Jakovljevic, ; Nelson, ).…”