title: Unethical battlefield conduct reported by soldiers serving in the Iraq war.
abstract: Research involving military service members has shown a strong relationship between combat experiences and increased risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health problems. Comparatively little research has examined the relationship between combat experiences, PTSD, aggression, and unethical conduct on the battlefield, although news stories sometimes suggest links between unethical conduct and disorders such as PTSD. This study systematically examined whether unethical conduct is a proxy for aggression and whether specific combat experiences and PTSD are independently associated with unethical behavior. The results of this study indicate that aggression (β = 0.30) and specific combat experiences (particularly, witnessing war atrocities [β = 0.14] and fighting [β = 0.13]) are much more strongly associated with unethical conduct than is PTSD (β = 0.04).
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA. joshua.wilk@amedd.army.mil
authors.forename: Joshua E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Wilk
authors.forename: Paul D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Bliese
authors.forename: Jeffrey L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McGurk
authors.forename: Carl A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: Charles W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Hoge
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D055826:Afghan Campaign 2001-; D000374:Aggression / Q000941:ethics* / Q000523:psychology*; D032781:Codes of Ethics; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D054542:Iraq War, 2003-2011; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States; D014754:Violence / Q000941:ethics* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult