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Psychological Well-Being in Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans: Risk and Protective Factors

Objective: Much research on military veterans has focused on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other negative outcomes, with few studies of positive outcomes. This study focused on psychological well-being (PWB) in relation to PTSD symptoms and the additional risk factors of sleep problems and depression, as well as a protective factor, self-regulation. Method: Two hundred thirty-eight student veterans completed questionnaires online, with 115 completing follow-up questionnaires 2 months later. Results: Path analyses revealed significant associations of PWB with depression and self-regulation in expected directions within and across time points. Links of overall PWB with PTSD and sleep were mostly small and nonsignificant, but some differences were found for distinct domains of PWB. Finally, a significant interaction revealed that the negative association of baseline PTSD with 2-month PWB grew stronger as levels of self-regulation increased. Conclusions: This finding may indicate that higher scores on our measure of self-regulation reflected emotional overcontrol and rigidity, but further research that attempts to replicate these findings is needed. Overall, findings support the need for examining a broader set of risk and protective factors predictive of outcomes in veterans who served during the recent era of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.