La amistad entre los militares y los ciudadanos ¿un motivo de

One of the aim s of the study was to examine possible predictors of any mental health measures that are shown to change as a result of the deployment to Bosnia. As Sections 3 .3 . 1 and 3 . 3 .2 show, these were PTSD and depression. To this end, exploratory regression analyses were conducted to determine whether or not follow­ up levels of PTSD symptoms and depression for the EG of soldiers who deployed to Bosnia could be predicted by different sets of independent variables.

Only 67 EG members completed the follow-up questionnaire so this l imited the number of variables that could be entered into the analysis. Consequently, functional groupings of independent variables were used in a series of direct multiple regression analyses where these groups of independent variables were entered on Step 1 . Six of these multiple regression analyses had PTSD symptoms at follow-up as the dependent variable and six had depression at follow-up as the dependent variable. (Analyses with stress measures as independent variables are presented in Section 3 . 6. )

3. 3. 4. 1 Predicting PTSD Symptoms

Demographic Variables. Age, marital status, ethnic group, education and income were entered in the first analysis. Education was the only variable able to predict PTSD symptoms at follow-up, with lower levels of education being associated with higher level s of PTSD symptoms [F(5, 58) = 2 . 80, p< .OS; J3 = -.65, p< .00 1 ] .

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Military Variables. Rank, corps, number of operational deployments, number of other deployments and length of service were entered in the second analysis. Corps was the only variable able to predict PTSD symptoms at follow-up [F(5,3 1 ) = 4. 76,

p< . 0 1 ; � = -.48, p< .05]. Further examination of the results reveals that RNZAC,

RNZA and RNZIR (armoured, infantry and artillery) have the highest mean levels of PTSD symptoms.

Stage 1 Deployment Questions. Responses from five questions that were included in the pre-deployment questionnaire: "Was the amount of notice you had for this deployment just right, too little or too much?"; "How much confidence do you have in you pre-deployment training?" ; "How much do you want to go on this deployment?"; "How worried or anxious are you about this deployment?" ; and "How well do you think you will cope with the deployment?" were entered. Of these, "confidence in pre-deployment training" was able to predict PTSD symptoms at follow-up, with less confidence in pre-deployment training being associated with higher levels of PTSD symptoms [F(5,56) = 3 . 30, p< .05; � = -.42, p< . 0 1 ] .

Stage 2 Deployment Questions. None of the responses from five questions that were included in the mid-deployment questionnaire: "How stressful/difficult are you finding this deployment?" ; "How much are you enjoying this deployment?" ; "How much difficulty do you have keeping your morale up?" ; "How well do you feel you are coping with the deployment?" and "How worried are you about your family at home?'' were able to predict PTSD symptoms at follow-up.

Stage 3 Deployment Questions. The following questions from the post-deployment questionnaires were entered in another direct multiple regression analysis : "How successful do you feel the mission was?" ; "How much did you enjoy the deployment?" ; "How well do you feel you coped with the deployment?" ; "How stressful/difficult did you find the deployment?" ; "How much ' in-country' leave did you have during the deployment?" ; and "How much 'out-of-country' leave did you have during the deployment?". None of these were able to predict PTSD symptoms at follow-up.

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Stage 4 Deployment Questions. Results from six questions included in the follow­ up questionnaires: "To what extent do you feel you have settled back into life in New Zealand?" ; "To what extent do you feel you have settled back into your j ob in New Zealand?"; "How satisfied are you with the support you have received from the Army since your deployment?"; "How satisfied are you with the support your family received fro m the Army during your deployment?"; "How satisfied are you with the support your family has received since your deployment?" and "Other than regular checkups, how many times have you visited a health professional in the last six months?" were entered in another multiple regression analysis. How much respondents said they had settled back into life in NZ was a predictor of PTSD symptoms, and to a lesser extent, how satisfied respondents were with the support their family received during the deployment. Lower levels of settledness and sati sfaction with family support were associated with higher levels of PTSD symptoms at follow-up [F (6,60) = 7.06, p< .00 1 ; p (settled) = -.65, p< .00 1 ; p (satisfied) = -.25, p< .05].

3.3. 4. 2 Predicting Depression

Another six direct multiple regression analyses were conducted with the same groups of independent variables described above entered in Step 1 , but with depression at follow-up as the dependent variable.

Demographic Variables. Education was the only demographic variable entered that was able to predict depression at follow-up. It seems that higher levels of education are associated with lower levels of depression [F(5, 5 8) = 3 .3 3, p< .05; p = -.40, p< . 0 1 ] .

Military Variables. Corps was the only one of the military variables entered that was able to predict level of depression at follow-up [F(4,24) = 3 . 50, p< .05; p = -. 5 5, p< . 05 ] . Further examination of the results reveals that RNZAC, RNZ S igs, RNZA and RNZIR (armoured, signals, artillery and infantry) have the highest mean l evels of depression.

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Stage 1 Deployment Questions. How respondents felt about the amount of notice they received at pre-deployment was the only one of the questions relating to the pre­ deployment stage that was able to predict depression at follow-up. It seems that dissatisfaction with the amount of notice was associated with higher levels of

depression at follow-up [F(5,56) = 2.53, p< .05; f3 = . 34, p< .05].

Stage 2 Deployment Questions. How stressful or difficult respondents were finding the deployment during the deployment itself was able to predict depression at follow­ up. The greater the amount of stress or difficulty experienced during the deployment, the higher the l evel of depression at follow-up [F(5,52) = 3 .20, p< .05; f3 = -. 53, p<

. 0 1 ] .

Stage 3 Deployment Questions. None of the mid-deployment questions entered in

the analysis were able to predict levels of depression at follow-up.

Stage 4 Deployment Questions. To what extent respondents felt that they had settled

back into life in NZ was able to predict depression at follow-up. Feeling very settled was associated with lower levels of depression [F(6, 60) = 4 . 89, p< .00 1 ; f3 = -. 5 5, p< . 00 1 ] .

3.4

Stressors of the Peacekeeping Experience

Two scales, the "Hassles Scale" and the "Deployment Hassles Scale", were used to examine the extent and nature of the stressors involved in the peacekeeping experience. Various combinations of these scales were also used for the Control Groups so that the extent and nature of the stressors involved in the peacekeeping situation could be compared with those involved in deploying overseas on other than peacekeeping duties, and remaining in NZ, either within the NZ Army or in the civi lian sector. However, when making comparisons between the respondent groups it is important to keep in mind the differences between key demographic variables presented in Section 3 . 1 .

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