The Psychological Well-Being of Finnish Peacekeeping Veterans Post-Deployment

SCALE	CUTOFF POINT
DEPS	Sum of answers higher than 9
AUDIT-C	Sum of answers higher than 6
SoC-13(12)	One or more answers of “1” or “2”
TSQ	6 or more ”yes” answers
Stress symptoms	At least two answers of “4” or at least one of “5”

Table 2

Respondents’ Background Information.

QUESTION	FREQUENCY	%
Age
Less than 25 years old	763	32.9%
25–30 years old	551	23.8%
31–40 years old	543	23.4%
Over 40 years old	460	19.9%
How many months has it been since returning from the mission?
1 month	392	16.9%
2 months	706	30.5%
3 months	596	25.7%
4 months	287	12.4%
5 months	170	7.3%
6–7 months	103	4.4%
8–9 months	26	1.1%
10–11 months	12	0.5%
12 months or more	25	1.1%
Did your deployment end prematurely?
Yes	68	2.9%
No	2249	97.1%
Which personnel group did you belong to?
Retired from active service	48	2.1%
Civilian	29	1.3%
Rank-and-file soldier	422	18.2%
Military official	81	3.5%
Non-commissioned officer	989	42.7%
Warrant officer	104	4.5%
Special officer	36	1.6%
Officer	608	26.2%
Education background
Comprehensive school	15	0.6%
Upper secondary school	598	25.8%
Vocational school or eq.	679	29.3%
University of applied sciences or warrant officer	405	17.5%
University or cadet degree	620	26.8%
How many times have you participated in peacekeeping missions?
Once	1493	64.4%
Twice	419	18.1%
Thrice	195	8.4%
Four times or more	210	9.1%
Current type of habitation
Live on my own	794	34.3%
Live with partner and/or married	1152	49.7%
Live with parents	263	11.4%
Some other way of living	108	4.7%

Table 3

Associations Between Age and Various Factors of Job Strain and Post-Deployment Symptoms.

VARIABLE	AGE (r)
Strain due to work community	.010
Strain due to adapting to new environments	.137**
Strain due to work-related organization	.123**
Strain due to work contents	.119**
Number of potentially traumatic events during deployment	.117**
Posttraumatic stress symptoms post-deployment	.023
Feelings of stress post-deployment	.010
Symptoms of depression post-deployment	–.001
Sense of coherence post-deployment	.107**
Alcohol use post-deployment	–.179**

[i] Note. ** p < .01.

Table 4

Forms of Job Strain and Their Association With Clinical Symptoms.

VARIABLE	POST TRAUMATIC SYMPTOMS	FEELINGS OF STRESS	SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION	SENSE OF COHERENCE	ALCOHOL USE
Strain due to work community	–.003	.236**	.202**	–.297**	.072**
Strain due to adapting to new environments	.220**	.326**	.220**	–.229**	–.007
Strain due to quality of work-related organization	–.052	.223**	.173**	–.277**	.036
Strain due to contents of work	.186**	.309**	.195**	–.191**	–.030
All forms of job strain	.108*	.326**	.245**	–.336**	.039

[i] Note. * p < .05, ** p < .01.

Table 5

The Correlations Between Potentially Traumatic Events and Post-Deployment Symptoms.

SCALE	FREQUENCY OF POTENTIALLY TRAUMATIC EVENTS DURING DEPLOYMENT (r)
Posttraumatic symptoms	–.225**
Feelings of stress	–.220**
Symptoms of depression	–.124**
Sense of coherence	–.069**
Alcohol use	–.032

[i] Note. ** p < .01.

Table 6

Correlations Between Measures of Clinical Symptoms.

SCALE		1.	2.	3.	4.	5.
1.	Posttraumatic symptoms (TSQ)	—	.406**	.390**	–.286**	.032
2.	Feelings of stress	.406**	—	.770**	–.589**	.087**
3.	Depression (DEPS)	.390**	.770**	—	–.620**	.087**
4.	Sense of Coherence (SoC-13)	–.286**	–.589**	–.620**	—	–.124**
5.	Alcohol use (AUDIT-C)	.032	.087**	.087**	–.124**	—

[i] Note. ** p < .01.

Table 7

Frequency of Exceeding Cutoff Points and Reliability of Scales Used.

SCALE	FREQUENCY EXCEEDING CUTOFF POINT	RELIABILITY (CRONBACH’S α)
TSQ	3 (0.1 %)	.70
Feelings of stress	66 (2.8 %)	.90
DEPS	59 (2.5 %)	.88
SoC-13	167 (7.2 %)	.89
AUDIT-C	634 (29.6 %)	.39

Appendix 1

A regression model for the predicting factors of posttraumatic symptoms.

MODEL		ΔR²	B	SE B	β	P
1.	Feelings of stress	.192	.101	.009	.440	<.001
2.	Feelings of stress	.022	.095	.009	.413	<.001
2.	No. potentially traumatic events		.038	.010	.156	<.001
3.	Feelings of stress	.014	.057	.015	.247	<.001
	No. potentially traumatic events		.040	.010	.165	<.001
	Symptoms of depression		.090	.028	.208	<.001

Appendix 2

A regression model for the predicting factors of feelings of stress.

MODEL		ΔR²	B	SE B	β	P
1.	Symptoms of depression	.625	1.483	.052	.790	<.001
2.	Symptoms of depression	.021	1.444	.051	.769	<.001
2.	Strain due to work content		.303	.056	.147	<.001
3.	Symptoms of depression	.011	1.282	.064	.683	<.001
	Strain due to work content		.306	.055	.148	<.001
	Sense of coherence		–.135	.033	–.137	<.001
4.	Symptoms of depression	.009	1.209	.066	.644	<.001
	Strain due to work content		.280	.055	.136	<.001
	Sense of coherence		–.129	.033	–.131	<.001
	Posttraumatic symptoms		.465	.126	.107	<.001
5.	Symptoms of depression	.004	1.208	.066	.644	<.001
	Strain due to work content		.284	.055	.138	<.001
	Sense of coherence		–.122	.033	–.124	<.001
	Posttraumatic symptoms		.465	.125	.107	<.001
	Alcohol use		.164	.071	.060	.022

Appendix 3

Factor analysis for feelings of stress. Eigenvalue 1 used as a cutoff point.

COMPONENT	EIGENVALUE	PROPORTION OF VARIANCE, %
1	5,682	51,658

Appendix 4

A regression model for the predicting factors of symptoms of depression.

MODEL		ΔR²	B	SE B	β	P
1.	Feelings of stress	.625	.421	.015	.790	<.001
2.	Feelings of stress	.044	.343	.017	.643	<.001
2.	Sense of coherence		–.134	.017	–.256	<.001
3.	Feelings of stress	.005	.327	.018	.613	<.001
	Sense of coherence		–.132	.017	–.251	<.001
	Posttraumatic symptoms		.174	.067	.075	<.001
4.	Feelings of stress	.003	.328	.018	.615	<.001
	Sense of coherence		–.139	.017	–.264	<.001
	Posttraumatic symptoms		.168	.067	.073	.012
	Strain due to work-related organization		–.020	.010	–.054	.041

Appendix 5

A regression model for the predicting factors of sense of coherence.

MODEL		ΔR²	B	SE B	β	P
1.	Symptoms of depression	.392	–1.190	.067	–626	<.001
2.	Symptoms of depression	.033	–1.149	.065	–605	<.001
2.	Strain due to work-related organization		–.128	.024	–.183	<.001
3.	Symptoms of depression	.013	–.874	.105	–460	<.001
	Strain due to work-related organization		–.118	.024	–.170	<.001
	Feelings of stress		–.188	.056	–.185	<.001
4.	Symptoms of depression	.012	–.867	.104	–.456	<.001
	Strain due to work-related organization		–.125	.024	–.179	<.001
	Feelings of stress		–.185	.058	–.183	.001
	Age		.560	.169	.111	.001
5.	Symptoms of depression	.007	–.842	.104	–.443	<.001
	Strain due to work-related organization		–.143	.025	–.204	<.001
	Feelings of stress		–.215	.057	–.212	<.001
	Age		.500	.170	.099	.003
	Strain due to work content		.187	.077	.090	.022

Appendix 6

A regression model for the predicting factors of alcohol use.

MODEL		ΔR²	B	SE B	β	P
1.	Age	.071	–.483	.079	–.266	<.001
2.	Age	.013	–.476	.078	–.262	<.001
2.	Feelings of stress		.042	.016	.114	.009

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.21061/jvs.v10i2.468 | Journal eISSN: 2470-4768

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Language: English

Page range: 41 - 55

Submitted on: Jun 29, 2023

Accepted on: Jul 27, 2023

Published on: Apr 23, 2024

Published by: Virginia Tech Publishing

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

Finland,

Crisis Management,

Symptoms,

Stress,

Military Psychology

© 2024 Joonas Sahramäki, Kasper Kuivanen, Lari Törmä, Petteri Simola, published by Virginia Tech Publishing
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 10 (2024): Issue 2