Testing a Resilience Model Among Canadian Forces Recruits

Military Medicine, Aug 2013

Skomorovsky, Alla, Stevens, Sonya

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Testing a Resilience Model Among Canadian Forces Recruits

MILITARY MEDICINE Testing a Resilience Model Among Canadian Forces Recruits Alla Skomorovsky 1 Sonya Stevens 0 0 Department of Psychology, Saint Mary's University , 923 Robie Street, Halifax, NS B3H 3C3. doi: 10.7205/MILMED-D-12-00389 1 Department of National Defence, Defence Research and Development Canada, Department of National Defence , 101 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K2 Evidence suggests that personal characteristics serve as resilience factors, and may protect military personnel against the development of psychological distress, even during stressful conditions. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted on data from Canadian Forces candidates undertaking their basic training (N = 200) to test the fit of a model of resilience that is comprised of several individual characteristics, such as personality, hardiness, and coping. The most parsimonious model of resilience with the best fit to the data was identified. This model consisted of neuroticism, military hardiness, and problem-solving coping. The results of the study were consistent with previous research, showing that personality, military hardiness, and coping are important predictors of life satisfaction and health. The proposed resilience model offers a useful approach for the development of training programs to enhance readiness and recovery in the military context. INTRODUCTION It is often assumed that psychological well-being is influenced by life stressors.1 However, research shows that not everyone who experiences a negative life event develops a psychological health problem. For example, research on military communities illustrated that some military personnel exposed to warrelated stressors had no negative health consequences.2 It has been suggested that some personal characteristics might buffer these individuals against the negative impact of these events on psychological health, making them more resilient.3 Military jobs are more physically and psychologically demanding than most civilian jobs.4 They involve multiple adverse experiences, such as fear, sensory overload, constantly changing environments, and exposure to climatic changes,5 as well as stressors such as deployment and prolonged periods of time away from home.6 Because stress is a major component of military life,7 military personnel are required to be psychologically resilient; thus, knowing the psychological characteristics that predict resilience is vital for military organizations. Individual Characteristics and Resilience Resilience is usually defined by the ability to bounce back from negative emotional experiences and by flexible adaptation to the changing demands of stressful experiences.8 It is commonly viewed as a dynamic and context-specific construct, characterized by either the absence or the natural resolution of stress-induced symptoms.9–13 Various concepts and sources of resilience have been put forward. Some researchers argue that social context (e.g., external support) should be included in the concept of resilience,12,14,15 whereas others propose that the source of resilience is exclusively “within the person.”10 Furthermore, some view the resilience concept as a human factor,9 while others view it as a response to a particularly stressful or traumatic event.16 Although researchers cannot agree on just one definition for the resilience concept, one common conceptualization, and the one that will be used in this study, they are viewing resilience as a set of personal characteristics or individual variables, that protect well-being in stressful situations.9 In previous research, resilience has typically been conceptualized through the use of a variety of different proxy variables.17 The present study builds upon this research by concentrating on the role of specific individual characteristics—personality, hardiness, and coping—in the resilience concept. Personality Numerous researchers have demonstrated that an individual’s personality can be separated into five distinct dimensions, or factors, what is now known as the Five Factor Model of personality.18 According to this model, individual differences in personality may be described along the factors of conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion.19 Some argue that the Big Five Model can be used to differentiate between resilient and vulnerable individuals.20,21 Resilience was found to be linked to emotional stability, extraversion, openness to new experiences,22 conscientiousness,22–24 and agreeableness.23,25 Furthermore, research conducted with military personnel showed that certain personality characteristics are associated with poorer psychological well-being and adjustment in the military.26 Specifically, the authors found that neuroticism had a negative impact on adjustment to military life, interfering with occupational functioning. Given the important role of personality—especially neuroticism—in the military context, many research (...truncated)


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Skomorovsky, Alla, Stevens, Sonya. Testing a Resilience Model Among Canadian Forces Recruits, Military Medicine, 2013, pp. 829-837, Volume 178, Issue 8, DOI: 10.7205/MILMED-D-12-00389