Occupational Stressors in Military Service: A Review and Framework

Abstract

The identification of stressors and the evaluation of their likely severity in the different settings and phases of military service are essential requirements for developing a comprehensive understanding of military occupation stress and for developing stress-reducing strategies useful for enhancing unit performance and for promoting soldiers' health. As an initial step in meeting these requirements, this article reviews and compares the likely sources and severity of occupational stress across several broad types of military environments—i.e., garrison versus deployed and combat versus noncombat—and presents an integrating framework for systematically considering military occupational stress in these subenvironments. Discussion focuses on the contributions the framework makes and on the kinds of military stress research needed in the future.