Team spirit makes the difference: The interactive effects of team work engagement and organizational constraints during a military operation on psychological outcomes afterwards

This article prospectively explores the effects of collective team work engagement and organizational constraints during military deployment on individual-level psychological outcomes afterwards. Participants were 971 Dutch peacekeepers within 93 teams who were deployed between the end of 2008 and beginning of 2010, for an average of 4 months,...

Perceived demands during modern military operations

Using a cross-sectional design, this study explored operational demands during the International Security Assistance Force for Afghanistan (2009-2010) across distinct military units. A total of 1,413 Dutch soldiers, nested within four types of units (i.e., combat, combat support, service support, and command support units) filled out a 23-item...

Perceived job demands during military deployment: What soldiers say in Afghanistan

Military deployment is inherently demanding and military organizations have to prepare their personnel for a broad range of operational demands. So far, it remains unclear how perceptions of operational demands differ between distinct military units. Using a cross-sectional design, this study explored operational demands during the International...

A model of psychological resilience for the Netherlands Armed Forces

In the current study, a model of psychological resilience was developed for the Netherlands Armed Forces and a number of important relations were tested using a longitudinal design. The model of resilience was based on a systematic literature review of resilience in high-risk professions and interviews with military domain experts. The model...

Keeping up spirits: The effects of trust in lower-level and higher-level leaders on morale of deployed soldiers

Trust in leadership is essential in high-risk work-environments such as the military. Without a willingness to be vulnerable to the leader’s directives, soldiers may lose their focus and become less prepared to respond to operational demands. The present research examined how trust in different hierarchical leaders affects soldiers’ morale,...

The influence of resilience resources on long-term adaptation after deployment

Psychological resilience is seen as a factor influencing soldiers’ performance, mental health, and long-term adaptation after deployment. Factors related to unit’s morale as evaluated by the Netherlands Morale Instrument were compared to soldiers mental health evaluation six months after return from deployment to Afghanistan. For this study the...