A model of resilience and meaning after military deployment: Personal resources in making sense of war and peacekeeping experiences

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine whether the specific personal resources of self-esteem, optimism and perceived control, combined in the latent variable called ‘resilience’, were associated with cognitive processing of war-zone experiences. Data were collected by questionnaires from a sample of 1.561 veterans who had participated in various war or peacekeeping operations. Structural equation modelling was performed to assess the expected relationships between the observed and latent variables. The construct of resilience was well-defined and proved to be strongly associated with both construals of meaning, comprehensibility versus personal significance, after military deployment. According to our model, higher resilience predicted less distrust in others and the world, more personal growth and less intrusions and avoidance after military deployment.

Keywords:

• veterans
• resilience
• meaning
• distrust
• growth