Assessing the psychometric properties of the Army STARRS' vertical unit cohesion scale: A large-scale, longitudinal study.

Unit cohesion is the extent to which military service members feel committed to and supported by their military unit or, conversely, feel overlooked, neglected, and/or alienated. Unit cohesion reflects an important aspect of military social support and can act as a protective factor against mental health challenges, particularly in challenging situations. Theoretical suppositions and emerging evidence suggest that different types of unit support, specifically, vertical unit cohesion and horizontal unit cohesion, uniquely matter for service member well-being. Vertical unit cohesion (support from leaders in the unit and other higher-ranking positions) may be of universal importance to service members with implications for career progression and personal wellbeing, while horizontal unit cohesion (support from fellow unit members and peers) may be of importance under certain circumstances. Informed by the psychometric theory of scale development and validation, the dimensionality of unit cohesion theory, and the need for brief, sound measurement tools, this study first examined the psychometric properties of the Army STARRS four-item Vertical Unit Cohesion Scale in a longitudinal analysis with a large, diverse sample of Soldiers from the Pre/Post Deployment Study component of the Army STARRS dataset (N = 10,116). Then, exploratory analyses were conducted to examine the properties of the Horizontal Unit Cohesion Scale and understand the relationship between vertical and horizontal unit cohesion. Strong evidence for the Vertical Unit Cohesion Scale's psychometric soundness was established regarding factor structure, measurement invariance overtime, and construct validity. Conversely, preliminary evidence suggests that the three-item measure of Horizontal Unit Cohesion should be used with caution. Implications for researchers and military leadership are provided.

Combat Deployment Experiences and Soldier Mental Health: Examining the Factor Structure of a Combat Experiences Scale.

INTRODUCTION: Researchers and practitioners are invested in understanding how deployment experiences impact the nearly 193,000 U.S. service members who deploy in a given year. Yet, there remains a need to adequately identify salient deployment experiences through survey measurement tools and understand how differential experiences are uniquely related to mental health outcomes. Therefore, this study examined the factor structure of an established combat experiences measure from the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Service members (Army STARRS) dataset to identify underlying survey constructs that reflect nuanced deployment experiences. Then, we examined the association between diverse combat experiences and current mental health symptoms (i.e., anxiety and depressive symptoms) and the mediating role of coping. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were drawn from the Army STARRS data (N = 14,860 soldiers), specifically the All Army Study component. A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to examine the dimensionality of the combat experiences scale, and then a path model was conducted to examine the relationships between combat experiences, coping with stress following a deployment, and mental health symptoms while controlling for relevant individual and interpersonal factors. RESULTS: Results from the principal component analysis suggested that the Army STARRS combat experiences scale encompasses two components, specifically: "Expected combat experiences" and "Responsible for non-enemy deaths." Both "Expected combat experiences" and "Responsible for non-enemy deaths" were associated with higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms, respectively, and "Responsible for non-enemy deaths" was also indirectly linked to these mental health outcomes through coping with stress after deployment. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide insight into the dimensionality of combat experiences and offer practitioners a more nuanced understanding of how to process unique combat experiences that differentially relate to mental health symptoms.

Coping and Mental Health Differences among Active Duty Service Members and Their Spouses with High and Low Levels of Marital Warmth.

This study examined the relationship between marital warmth (e.g., openly expressing affection, supportive behaviors) and assessments of coping (i.e., challenges coping with military life and self-efficacy in the context of stress) and mental health (i.e., depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms) in a sample of active duty men and their spouses/romantic partners (N = 234 military couples). Results from a series of multivariate analysis of variance tests indicate that service members and spouses who reported higher levels of marital warmth also reported better coping skills and mental health compared to individuals in couple relationships that demonstrated lower levels of marital warmth. Intervention and prevention implications targeting social support and marital warmth are provided.