Personal values in soldiers after military deployment: associations with mental health and resilience

After military deployment, soldiers are at an increased risk of developing posttraumatic psychiatric disorders. The correlation of personal values with symptoms, however, has not yet been examined within a military context. Schwartz’s Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ), the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale (PDS), and the 11-item version of the Resilience Scale (RS-11) were completed by 117 soldiers of the German Armed Forces who had recently been deployed to Afghanistan (<i>n=</i>40 undergoing initial psychiatric treatment, <i>n=</i>77 untreated). Logistic regression showed that the value types of hedonism (−), power (−), tradition (+), and universalism (+) were significantly correlated with the probability and severity of PTSD and whether the participant was in treatment or not. The effects were partially mediated by the RS-11 scale values. Value types seem to be associated with psychiatric symptoms in soldiers after deployment. These results could contribute to the further development of therapeutic approaches.

军事部署完成后，士兵罹患创伤后精神障碍的风险显著升高。然而，个人价值观与精神症状之间的关联尚未在军事场景中得到探究。本研究招募117名近期被部署至阿富汗的德国联邦国防军（German Armed Forces）士兵参与测试，他们完成了施瓦茨肖像价值观问卷（Portrait Values Questionnaire, PVQ）、创伤后应激诊断量表（Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, PDS）以及11项版韧性量表（Resilience Scale, RS-11）；其中40名受试者正在接受初始精神治疗（n=40），77名未接受治疗（n=77）。逻辑回归分析结果显示，享乐主义（−）、权力（−）、传统主义（+）与普世主义（+）这四类价值观类型，与创伤后应激障碍（Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD）的发生概率、严重程度以及受试者是否接受治疗均存在显著相关性。上述效应部分通过RS-11量表得分发挥中介作用。研究表明，价值观类型与部署后士兵的精神症状存在关联，本研究结果可为后续治疗方案的开发提供参考依据。