ABSTRACT

Military personnel experience stressors during deployment that could take a toll on their psychological well-being and on the organization’s function. One common approach to better understanding the impact of such stressors is measuring events using psychological scales. The current research examined items measuring potentially morally injurious experiences in post-deployment assessments of personnel involved in the Afghanistan mission using the United States Mental Health Advisory Team – Combat Experiences Scale (MHAT-CES).

Study 1 found that the scale produced five components. Three components showed consistency with past studies that examined the structure of other versions of the CES (i.e., dangerous environments, exposure to dead and injured and active combat). A fourth component that we labeled life threats included items that were typically divided between the aforementioned components. Finally, a stable and reliable fifth component included items related to potentially morally injurious experiences. Study 2 replicated this structure and showed that increased perceptions of potentially morally injurious experiences during deployment were associated with higher levels of psychological distress, which in turn promoted stronger turnover intentions, even after controlling for the effects of the other combat stressor components on these variables. We discuss the implications of potentially morally injurious experiences in relation to individual psychological distress and organizational retention.

摘要

军事人员在部署期间会经历压力源，这可能会影响他们的心理健康和组织功能。更好地了解此类压力源影响的一种常见方法是使用心理量表来衡量事件。目前的研究使用美国心理健康咨询小组 - 战斗经验量表 (MHAT-CES) 检查了在对参与阿富汗任务的人员进行部署后评估中衡量潜在道德伤害经历的项目。

研究 1 发现该量表产生了五个组成部分。三个组成部分与过去的研究一致，这些研究检查了其他版本的 CES 的结构（即危险环境、暴露于死伤和积极战斗）。我们标记为生命威胁的第四个组成部分包括通常在上述组成部分之间划分的项目。最后，稳定可靠的第五部分包括与潜在的道德伤害经历相关的项目. 研究 2 复制了这种结构，并表明在部署期间对潜在道德伤害经历的感知增加与更高水平的心理困扰有关，这反过来又促进了更强的离职意图，即使在控制了其他战斗压力因素对这些变量的影响之后也是如此。我们讨论了与个人心理困扰和组织保留相关的潜在道德伤害经历的影响。