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Relationship of early-life stress and resilience to military adjustment in a young adulthood population

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Abstract

Purpose

Early-life stress (ELS) may mediate adjustment problems while resilience may protect individuals against adjustment problems during military service. We investigated the relationship of ELS and resilience with adjustment problem factor scores in the Korea Military Personality Test (KMPT) in candidates for the military service.

Methods

Four hundred and sixty-one candidates participated in this study. Vulnerability traits for military adjustment, ELS, and resilience were assessed using the KMPT, the Korean Early-Life Abuse Experience Questionnaire, and the Resilience Quotient Test, respectively. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression analyses.

Results

The final model of the multiple linear regression analyses explained 30.2 % of the total variances of the sum of the adjustment problem factor scores of the KMPT. Neglect and exposure to domestic violence had a positive association with the total adjustment problem factor scores of the KMPT, but emotion control, impulse control, and optimism factor scores as well as education and occupational status were inversely associated with the total military adjustment problem score.

Conclusions

ELS and resilience are important modulating factors in adjusting to military service. We suggest that neglect and exposure to domestic violence during early life may increase problem with adjustment, but capacity to control emotion and impulse as well as optimistic attitude may play protective roles in adjustment to military life. The screening procedures for ELS and the development of psychological interventions may be helpful for young adults to adjust to military service.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the 2010 Jisan cultural psychiatric research grant of the Korean Foundation of Neuropsychiatric Research. Some of the results of this study were presented as a new research poster (poster No. NR 4-78) at the 163rd Annual meeting of American Psychiatric Association in New Orleans, LA in 2010.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 211 Eonjuro, Gangnam-gu, 9th Fl. Annex Building, Seoul, 135-720, Korea

    Jeong-Ho Seok

  2. Gyeonggi Northern Regional Military Manpower Office, Uijeongbu, Korea

    Kang Choi & Eunjung Lee

  3. Department of Industrial Medicine, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Anyang, Korea

    Hyoungjune Im

  4. Department of Communication, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

    Joohan Kim

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Center for the Studies of Traumatic Stress, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, USA

    Kwang H. Choi

  6. Department of Psychiatry, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Anyang, Korea

    Duk-In Jon, Hyunju Hong & Narei Hong

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  1. Kang Choi
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Correspondence to Jeong-Ho Seok.

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Choi, K., Im, H., Kim, J. et al. Relationship of early-life stress and resilience to military adjustment in a young adulthood population. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 48, 1767–1776 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-012-0647-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-012-0647-x

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