Adams Richard E, Urosevich Thomas G, Hoffman Stuart N, Kirchner H Lester, Figley Charles R, Withey Carrie A, Boscarino Joseph J, Dugan Ryan J, Boscarino Joseph A
Department of Sociology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.
Geisinger Clinic, Ophthalmology Service, Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania.
Mil Behav Health. 2019;7(3):304-314. doi: 10.1080/21635781.2019.1580642. Epub 2019 Mar 12.
Social psychological theory hypothesizes that one's identity, self-definitions, and meanings used for a particular social role fosters individual purpose in life and affects behavior in specific social situations. As such, it can be protective against the onset of psychological disorders. We examined this hypothesis with data collected from 1,730 military veterans recruited to study the health effects of warzone deployments. The sample was primarily male, older, and White. Our key independent variable was a Likert scale rating the prominence of a respondent's veteran identity: how important it is to the person. Outcome variables included posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicide ideation, depression, alcohol misuse, and use of VA services. Bivariate analysis suggested that veterans with a prominent veteran identity are older, noncollege graduates, have less income, and had their first deployment to Vietnam. In multivariate analyses, study participants with a prominent veteran identity were less likely to exhibit suicide ideation, but more likely to misuse alcohol and use VA services. We found no differences for PTSD, self-rated health, or depression by veteran identity. Veterans who scored higher on the veteran identity scale appeared to be protected from suicidal thoughts, although they had an elevated risk for alcohol misuse.
社会心理学理论假设，一个人的身份认同、自我定义以及用于特定社会角色的意义会促进个体的生活目标，并影响其在特定社会情境中的行为。因此，它可以预防心理障碍的发生。我们用从1730名被招募来研究战区部署对健康影响的退伍军人那里收集的数据来检验这一假设。样本主要为男性、年长者和白人。我们的关键自变量是一个李克特量表，用于评定受访者退伍军人身份的突出程度：这一身份对其本人有多重要。结果变量包括创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）、自杀意念、抑郁、酒精滥用以及使用退伍军人事务部（VA）的服务。双变量分析表明，具有突出退伍军人身份的退伍军人年龄更大、非大学毕业生、收入更低，并且首次被部署到越南。在多变量分析中，具有突出退伍军人身份的研究参与者出现自杀意念的可能性较小，但酒精滥用和使用退伍军人事务部服务的可能性更大。我们发现，退伍军人身份在PTSD、自评健康或抑郁方面没有差异。在退伍军人身份量表上得分较高的退伍军人似乎能免受自杀念头的影响，尽管他们酒精滥用的风险有所增加。
