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Resilience to mental health problems and the role of deployment status among U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard Soldiers

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Abstract

Purpose

Research suggests that interpersonal and intrapersonal resiliency factors protect against poor post-deployment mental health outcomes among Reserve/Guard soldiers who have been deployed. There is increasing awareness that never-deployed soldiers are also at risk. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between resiliency factors and a range of mental health outcomes among a sample of United States Army Reserve and National Guard (USAR/NG) soldiers who have and have not experienced deployment.

Methods

A subset of data was drawn from Operation: SAFETY (N = 360), an ongoing study examining the health and well-being of USAR/NG soldiers. We used a multivariate path analysis approach to examine the simultaneous effects of unit support, marital satisfaction, and psychological hardiness on the following mental health outcomes, concurrently: anger, anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology. We also examined interaction effects between resiliency factors and deployment status on mental health outcomes.

Results

Greater unit support (ps < 0.01), marital satisfaction (ps < 0.001), and psychological hardiness (ps < 0.001) were associated with less anger, anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptomatology. Psychological hardiness had significant interactions with deployment status on anxiety, depression, and PTSD, such that the protective effects of psychological hardiness were even stronger among never-deployed soldiers than previously deployed solders.

Conclusion

Resiliency factors can be targeted for intervention to prevent poor mental health outcomes among USAR/NG soldiers, regardless of deployment status. Further, psychological hardiness may be an even more important protective factor among soldiers who have never been deployed.

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Acknowledgements

Research reported in this manuscript was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse award number R01DA034072 to Gregory G. Homish and by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under award number UL1TR001412 to the University at Buffalo. This research was also supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration award number T32HP30035 in support of Rachel A. Hoopsick (PI: Linda S. Kahn). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, 3435 Main Street, 335 Kimball Tower, Buffalo, NY, 14214, USA

    Rachel A. Hoopsick

  2. Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA

    D. Lynn Homish, R. Lorraine Collins & Gregory G. Homish

  3. School of Social Work, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Thomas H. Nochajski

  4. Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Jennifer P. Read

  5. Center for Technology and National Security Policy, Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University, Washington, DC, USA

    Paul T. Bartone

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Correspondence to Rachel A. Hoopsick.

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Hoopsick, R.A., Homish, D.L., Collins, R.L. et al. Resilience to mental health problems and the role of deployment status among U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard Soldiers. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 56, 1299–1310 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01899-5

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