TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2019//
TI  - Resilience facilitates adjustment through greater psychological flexibility among Iraq/Afghanistan war veterans with and without mild traumatic brain injury
JO  - Rehabilitation psychology
A1  - Elliott, Timothy R.
A1  - Hsiao, Yu-Yu
A1  - Kimbrel, Nathan A.
A1  - Debeer, Bryann B.
A1  - Gulliver, Suzy Bird
A1  - Kwok, Oi-Man
A1  - Morissette, Sandra B.
A1  - Meyer, Eric C.
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - OBJECTIVES: Although many Iraq/Afghanistan warzone veterans report few problems with adjustment, a substantial proportion report debilitating mental health symptoms and functional impairment, suggesting the influence of personal factors that may promote adjustment. A significant minority also incur warzone-related traumatic brain injury (TBI), the majority of which are of mild severity (mTBI). We tested direct and indirect pathways through which a resilient personality prototype predicts adjustment of warzone veterans with and without mTBI over time. <br><br>METHOD: A sample of 264 war veterans (181 men) completed measures of lifetime and warzone-related TBIs, personality traits, psychological adjustment, quality of life, and functional impairment. Social support, coping, and psychological flexibility were examined as mediators of the resilience-adjustment relationship. Instruments were administered at baseline, 4-, 8-, and 12-month assessments. Structural equation models accounted for combat exposure and response style. <br><br>RESULTS: Compared with a nonresilient personality prototype, a resilient prototype was directly associated with lower PTSD, depression, and functional disability, and higher quality of life at all time-points. Warzone mTBIs frequency was associated with higher scores on a measure of functional disability. Indirect effects via psychological flexibility were observed from personality to all outcomes, and from warzone-related mTBIs to PTSD, depression, and functional disability, at each time-point. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Several characteristics differentiate veterans who are resilient from those who are less so. These findings reveal several factors through which a resilient personality prototype and the number of mTBIs may be associated with veteran adjustment. Psychological flexibility appears to be a critical modifiable factor in veteran adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0090-5550
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/rep0000282
ID  - ref1
ER  -