Rumination and threat-biased interpretation mediate posttraumatic stress and growth responses to military stressors

ABSTRACT

We examined the role of rumination and threat-biased interpretation in stress and growth responses to military stressors. Two online surveys were completed by 183 (survey 1) and 393 (survey 2) currently serving or retired military personnel. The surveys measured exposure to potential military stressors (exposure to combat, witnessing the consequences of war, and perceived moral injury), posttraumatic stress symptomatology (PTSS), posttraumatic growth (PTG), and personal wellbeing, with survey 1 including measures of rumination, and survey 2 including a measure of threat-biased interpretation. Path analyses revealed that indirect paths from both witnessing the consequences of war and experiencing betrayal to PTSS were mediated by intrusive rumination and threat-biased interpretation, and that indirect paths from both betrayal and transgressions by others to PTG were mediated by deliberate rumination and threat-biased interpretation. The results reveal the idiosyncratic nature of military stressors, their differential involvement with cognitions that underpin rumination about past events and interpretation of current events, and their relevance to posttraumatic stress and growth in military personnel.

KEYWORDS:

• Rumination
• threat-biased interpretation
• posttraumatic stress
• posttraumatic growth
• moral injury
• personal wellbeing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available upon request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.