title: Personal values in soldiers after military deployment: associations with mental health and resilience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  After military deployment, soldiers are at an increased risk of developing posttraumatic psychiatric disorders. The correlation of personal values with symptoms, however, has not yet been examined within a military context.
  
  
  METHODS
  Schwartz's Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ), the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale (PDS), and the 11-item version of the Resilience Scale (RS-11) were completed by 117 soldiers of the German Armed Forces who had recently been deployed to Afghanistan (n=40 undergoing initial psychiatric treatment, n=77 untreated).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Logistic regression showed that the value types of hedonism (-), power (-), tradition (+), and universalism (+) were significantly correlated with the probability and severity of PTSD and whether the participant was in treatment or not. The effects were partially mediated by the RS-11 scale values.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Value types seem to be associated with psychiatric symptoms in soldiers after deployment. These results could contribute to the further development of therapeutic approaches.
authors.affiliation: German Armed Forces Center for Military Mental Health, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
authors.affiliation: German Armed Forces 1st Army Division, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Firnkes
authors.affiliation: German Armed Forces Center for Military Mental Health, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Jens T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Kowalski
authors.affiliation: German Armed Forces 1st Army Division, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Backus
authors.affiliation: German Armed Forces Center for Military Mental Health, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Siegel
authors.affiliation: German Armed Forces Center for Military Mental Health, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Gerd
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Willmund
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Psychology, Psychopathology and Clinical Intervention, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maercker
keywords: Beliefs/values; active duty soldiers; logistic regression; treatment readiness; war