scholarly journals Personality and Resilience as Determinants of Psychological Well-being among Military Children

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 356-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nity Sharma ◽  
Yashwant Kumar Nagle

The military children are a population who are susceptible to psychological stress from the hardships of military life, such as frequent moves and separation from their parents during deployment. Military children are resilient as well as stress prone at the same time. Whilefrequent moves build resilience, combat deployments of their parents makes them vulnerable to the risks associated with psychological and emotional health, attachment problems and coping while overcoming traumatic grief due to death of a family member. The risk is highestright after the military personnel leaves for deployment and immediately upon return. In order to understand the psychological health of children of military personnel, it is important  to understand their resilience and personality in relation to psychological well-being. In addition to being a personal trait, resilience is a product of the relationships between children and the resources around them. Despite needs to better understand the impact of deployment on military children and families and to provide proper support for them, rigorous research is deficient. A comprehensive approach based on strengths and problems, of military children and families, with a focus on the prevention, is the need of the hour. The present paper focuses on study of personality and resilience as determinants of psychological well-being. The study was conducted on military children (N= 124) of Army Public School, using HEXACO-PI, Brief Resilience Scale and Psychological Wellbeing Scale. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results and implications are discussed in the paper. Issues in need of further research are emphasized, especially research into programs that assist military children and families.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Matthes ◽  
Kevin Koban ◽  
Ariadne Neureiter ◽  
Anja Stevic

BACKGROUND Given that governmental prevention measures restricted most face-to-face communications, online self-disclosure via smartphones emerged as an alternative coping strategy that aimed at reducing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s psychological health. Prepandemic research demonstrated that online self-disclosure benefits people’s psychological health by establishing meaningful relationships, obtaining social support, and achieving self-acceptance, particularly in times of crisis. However, it is unclear whether these dynamics transition well to lockdown conditions where online self-disclosure must stand almost entirely on its own. Longitudinal investigations are needed to gain insights into the psychological functionalities of online self-disclosure during the COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to determine the temporal associations between smartphone online self-disclosure (as a communicative behavior) and critical indicators of psychological health (including psychopathological, as well as hedonic and eudaimonic states) during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Austria. METHODS We conducted a representative 2-wave panel survey between late March/April 2020 and May 2020. A total of 416 participants completed both waves (43.1% attrition rate, given n=731 participants who completed the first wave). A partially metric measurement invariant overtime structural equation model was used to determine the temporal associations among online self-disclosure, fear of COVID-19, happiness, and psychological well-being. RESULTS The analysis revealed that fear of COVID-19 significantly predicted online self-disclosure over time (<i>b</i>=0.24, <i>P</i>=.003) and happiness over time (<i>b</i>=−0.14, <i>P</i>=.04), but not psychological well-being (<i>b</i>=0.03, <i>P</i>=.48), that is, stronger COVID-19 fears at T1 prompted more online self-disclosure and less happiness at T2. Online self-disclosure, on the other hand, significantly predicted happiness (<i>b</i>=0.09, <i>P</i>=.02), but neither fear of COVID-19 (<i>b</i>=−0.01, <i>P</i>=.57) nor psychological well-being (<i>b</i>=−0.01, <i>P</i>=.57) over time. Participants who engaged more strongly in online self-disclosure at T1 felt happier at T2, but they did not differ from less-disclosing participants concerning COVID-19 fears and psychological well-being at T2. Importantly, happiness and psychological well-being were significantly related over time (happiness T1 → psychological well-being T2: <i>b</i>=0.11, <i>P</i>&lt;.001; psychological well-being T1 → happiness T2: <i>b</i>=0.42, <i>P</i>&lt;.001). CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that online self-disclosure might play a pivotal role in coping with pandemic stressors. With restrictions on their options, individuals increasingly turn to their smartphones and social media to disclose their feelings, problems, and concerns during lockdown. While online self-disclosure might not alleviate fears or improve psychological well-being, our results demonstrate that it made people experience more happiness during this crisis. This psychological resource may help them withstand the severe psychological consequences of the COVID-19 crisis over longer timeframes.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul T Bartone ◽  
Stephen V Bowles

Abstract Introduction Thousands of military personnel have suffered severe wounds and traumatic amputations in recent overseas conflicts. They face multiple surgeries and long, painful rehabilitation. Despite the tremendous stress for these servicemen and families, many appear to cope quite well and even thrive despite their devastating wounds. Hardiness is a world view or mindset marked by high levels of commitment and engagement in the world, a strong sense of control, and the tendency to see change as a challenge and opportunity to learn and improve. Previous research has shown that military personnel high in hardiness are at lower risk for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and other psychiatric symptoms following combat exposure. This study evaluated the impact of personality hardiness on post-traumatic growth (PTG) and psychological well-being in severely wounded service members and their spouses. Materials and Methods Male volunteers were surveyed while in hospital for severe battle wounds including loss of limbs. All were married, and all spouses also agreed to participate. Participants (N = 44) completed measures of hardiness, PTG, well-being, and neuroticism, and answered a question regarding potential benefits of their experience. Results Hierarchical multiple regression showed that hardiness significantly predicted both PTG and well-being, while controlling for age, education, family income, and neuroticism. Both service members and spouses indicated they experienced benefits in the following areas: strengthened family ties and connections; greater appreciation for and perspective on life; new career and educational opportunities; stronger, more resilient as a person; and formed new relationships, friends, and connections. Conclusion These results suggest that seriously wounded military members and their spouses who are high in hardiness are more likely to experience PTG and psychological well-being following extremely stressful experiences. Hardiness entails positive reframing of negative experiences as opportunities and challenges to overcome, and taking action to solve problems. Training programs to increase hardiness attitudes and related coping skills may thus be beneficial in facilitating healthy adaptation for severely injured patients.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bisht Prachi ◽  
Pande Lata

Armed force is an organization where the process of deployment of soldiers or military personnel occurs very frequently. The soldiers are frequently deployed in either active field areas, high altitude areas and routine exercise because of which the families has to face separation for longer as well as for short duration influencing them emotionally, psychologically and mentally leading to stress responses, such as anger, irritability, sleeplessness, and anxiety, and significant levels of distress (Demers 2009) and triggers depression, anxiety, decreased marital satisfaction and stress among the wives of the military personnel and this may even lead to somatization. Therefore the present study establishes the correlation between the psychological well-being and physical health of the wives of Indian soldiers and intend to find how different dimensions of each variable influences each other showing the interaction of the dimensions of psychological well-being and physical health. Total 300 spouses were selected as respondents. Correlation analysis was used as statistical tool. The results of the analysis show significant and positive correlation between the psychological well-being and physical health.


2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Dressing ◽  
Christine Kuehner ◽  
Peter Gass

BackgroundThere is a lack of community-based studies on prevalence rates of stalking and the impact of stalking on victims in European countries.AimsTo examine lifetime and point prevalence rates of stalking, behavioural and psychological consequences for victims, and the impact of stalking on current psychological well-being in a German community sample.MethodA postal survey was conducted with a sample randomly selected from the population of a middle-sized German city; 679 people (400 women, 279 men) responded. The survey included a stalking questionnaire and the WHO–5 well-being scale.ResultsAlmost 12% of the respondents (n=78, 68 women, 10 men) reported having been stalked. A multiple regression analysis revealed a significant effect of victimisation on psychological well-being.ConclusionsThis study identified a high lifetime prevalence of stalking in the community. Effects on victims' psychological health are significant, suggesting that the phenomenon deserves more attention in future community mental health research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-49
Author(s):  
Marva Sohail ◽  
Gulzar Ahmad

Present research aimed to know the difference between military personnel with endurance training and civilian population (with no endurance training), with respect to resilience, psychological well-being, and emotional regulation. Correlation and comparative design was used for this study. A sample of 180 participants with age range of 20-55 years was taken from different walks of military units and civilian population by using snowball sampling, and purposive sampling strategies respectively. The Adult Resilience Measure (Ungar & Liebenberg, 2011), Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Hills & Argyle, 2002), and Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (Gross & John, 2003) were used to assess variables. The results indicated that the military personnel with endurance training were significantly higher on psychological well-being than the civilian population (with no endurance training); while, the civilian population was significantly higher on expressive suppression facet of emotional regulation than the military personnel. There was a significant positive relationship of resilience with psychological well-being and emotional regulation in each group. Additionally, resilience predicted psychological well-being and emotional regulation in both groups, after controlling the effect of demographic characteristics. This research gives an insight into resilience, psychological well-being, and emotional regulation in military personnel with endurance training and the civilian populations with no endurance training. This research also adds to the body of literature in counselling and clinical psychology especially, in Pakistani perspective.


1993 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manfusa Shams

Different forms of social support as affecting psychological health were studied on a sample of 71 unemployed British Asian men in the north of England. Social support was measured in respect of five different forms of help from others. Measures were also obtained of psychological distress, financial strain, employment commitment and unemployment stigma. Family support and specifically support immediately after loss of job were found to have positive effects on unemployed men's psychological health. The findings are discussed along the lines of existing empirical evidence and the need to examine longitudinally the impact of social support on the psychological well-being of other ethnic minority groups is emphasized.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Guerrini Usubini ◽  
Giorgia Varallo ◽  
Valentina Granese ◽  
Roberto Cattivelli ◽  
Simone Consoli ◽  
...  

Obesity is a global health problem that affects both physical and psychological health and well-being. Psychological flexibility is one of the key components related to psychological health. This cross-sectional study aims to investigate the impact of psychological flexibility on psychological well-being in a sample of 220 individuals with obesity. Multivariate analysis was performed to investigate the role of psychological flexibility in explaining psychological well-being, controlling for confounding factors (sex, age, and Body Mass Index). According to the results, psychological flexibility significantly explained psychological well-being. Our study provides additional evidence of the impact of psychological flexibility on psychological well-being. It also provides further support for the importance of integrating psychological flexibility in the psychological interventions for obesity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S530-S530
Author(s):  
Judith Robertson R Phillips ◽  
Edith Jimenez ◽  
Heather Nicholson

Abstract Social capital such as positive relationships and social support play an important role in older adults’ well-being. Typically, researchers have investigated family and friends as providers of interpersonal resources to older adults but there has been an increasing trend to explore companion pets as providers of social capital and to investigate the impact of pet companionship on older adults’ psychological well-being. Inconsistencies have appeared in the literature though as to whether there is a “pet effect,” the positive benefit of companion pets on older adults’ psychological health. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether having a companion pet would provide greater social connection and better psychological well-being among 83 community-residing older adults (meanage = 62.87 years; males = 38; females = 45) who owned a companion pet, a dog (n= 53) , cat, (n= 21) or both (n= 9), versus 42 community-residing older adults (meanage = 65.69 years; males = 25; females = 17) who didn’t own companion pets. Analyses revealed that no “pet effect” was found for any measure of psychological well-being: self-reported loneliness, happiness, life satisfaction, or mental health. This was especially true for cat owners in that the more one viewed a cat as a family member, the lower one’s life satisfaction and happiness. In addition, as the number of cats in the household increased, the perceived social support from a significant other, family, and friends lowered. Discussion will focus on the implications of these results for pets as providers of social capital.


2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 323-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Philip ◽  
Vinu Cherian

Background: Health care workers (HCWs) constitute a vulnerable group in terms of physical, mental, and emotional health setbacks during an epidemic. An in-depth understanding of the effects of epidemics on HCWs is of utmost importance, in order to put in place measures for their well-being. The purpose of the review was to compile, compare, and contrast the available information so as to produce a lucid picture of how HCWs are impacted during an epidemic, and the factors that affect their mental health. Methods: A literature search of MEDLINE and Google Scholar databases was conducted to uncover research pertaining to four major epidemic outbreaks over the last two decades. The search was carried out at three levels using pertinent key words. The records thus identified were narrowed down at three further levels, that is, by screening of the title, abstract, and full text, to obtain articles most relevant to the subject matter. Data extraction was done using a spreadsheet to compile the relevant data. Data synthesis was done by studying those factors found to affect psychological well-being of HCWs and separating them into suitable sub-groups. Recommendations to mitigate the psychological impact were proposed. Results: Thirteen factors were identified, which were grouped under the broad categories of socio-demographic variables, individual characteristics, social characteristics, and psychological constructs. Conclusion: Epidemics have a profound impact on psychological well-being of HCWs. There is a pressing need to address the issue of the psychological health of this vulnerable group.


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