Personality profiles of divers: integrating results across studies

Background: There are numerous reports on diver personality, spanning across five decades, across national boundaries, and using a range of measures to describe diver profiles. However, the range of reports poses challenges to interpreting new studies, particularly when having to compare findings across generations, measurements, and national/cultural contexts. This paper aimed to review and integrate diver personality descriptions, drawing on the available studies that reported trait theory based data for naval and sport divers. Materials and methods: Available studies on diver personality — associated with trait theory — were tabulated and the specific traits associated with divers described. Their findings were then integrated into a synthesised description of personality traits. Results: The results suggest remarkably stable military diver profiles across generations, measures, and navies, with some unique differences observed due to national-cultural variables. It was of particular interest that different measures of personality appeared to present related constructions of diver profiles. Navy divers share, among others, a propensity for adventurousness, a strong sense of self-agency, and low trait anxiety. Unsurprisingly, personality profiling could not be generalised across military-civilian diving contexts, and the same clear profile differentiation of navy divers was not visible among sport divers. Conclusions: Contemporary local data — in the context of military diving — could productively be compared to the body of existing reports, at least where similar theoretical models are used

Coping During Conventional Submarine Missions: Evidence of a Third Quarter Phenomenon?

The third quarter phenomenon refers to the decline in performance during the third quarter of missions in isolated, confined, and extreme environments, regardless of actual mission duration. This can be observed through changes in cognitive and interpersonal behavior, and an increase in reported negative experiences and undesirable mood states. This effect has been studied in polar and space missions, but there are no available reports on it during submarine missions. This study provides an additional analysis of previously published data that were collected during a conventional submarine patrol mission, to consider whether a stage-model of adaptation (in particular a third quarter effect) could be observed. It used data on coping—specifically the self-reported endorsement of coping activities during a submarine deployment—to achieve this. While the data could be interpreted as supporting a third quarter effect, they also reflected a general decline in individual well-being across mission duration. However, the decline was relatively small in real terms, and may not reflect meaningful changes in affect or performance. Practically, this could be useful for optimizing coping across mission duration, through enabling realistic preparation and developing mission-specific interventions

Screening Mental Well-Being in High Demand Occupational Settings in South Africa

This study considered promoting well-being of employees in high demand occupational positions, through the screening of mental well-being. The numerous challenges to such monitoring in a multi-lingual developing country like South Africa – where this study was conducted – requires a tool that can screen for the mental well-being of at-risk individuals, in order to timeously refer vulnerable persons to appropriate mental health support services. This paper explored whether the State-Trait Personality Inventory-Trait Scales (STPI-T) can be used fairly to monitor the well-being of young adult South Africans in high demand occupational settings. The self-report scales were administered to a non-clinical sample (women=392, men=521) aged 20 to 40 years, and their responses were analyzed with MANOVA and a ROC analysis. The main findings of the study indicated that contextualised norms are required (and were provided for the sample studied), develop per specific national and occupational environment; and that socio-demographic variables like gender, age, and language had limited effect on scale responses in this select sample. The scales effectively identified vulnerable individuals, comparable to psychological interviews. Scale scores were highly homogenized, facilitating identification of outliers which may indicate poorer mental health, thus enabling further referral for appropriate support. In conclusion, the study provides support for the use of the SPTI-T to promote the well-being of employees in multi-lingual high demand occupational settings, through regular monitoring and early identification of risk for poor mental health

Psychological profiles of resilience in extreme environments: Correlating measures of personality and coping and resilience

The presence of psychological resilience is believed to confer positive personal benefits, and may be particularly advantageous for individuals working in isolated, confined, and/or extreme environments. The study reported here aimed to identify contextually adaptive psychological profiles of resilience in such settings. This was done by correlating scores for measures of resilience with scores for measures of personality and coping, using South African Navy specialists who were identified as good adaptors. As resilience profiles may differ across contexts, two highly specific samples were used, namely navy divers and submariners. This article presents psychometric profiles of contemporary personality and coping styles. Then, using bivariate correlations, resilience-associated, context-specific, diver and submariner personality and coping profiles were identified. Their resilience profiles appeared well suited to their respective environments. Some differences were observed between the typical personality descriptions and the resilience profiles identified, with a number of possible reasons forwarded to understand this. Firstly, there were some concerns regarding the validity of the measures in the local cultural context; secondly, context-specific resilience may be expressed differently from resilience in general society; and thirdly, contemporary profiles of specialists may reflect current organisational processes in addition to psychological factors. In terms of practical application, while the identification of resilience profiles may also have value for selection purposes, it could be particularly useful for mission preparation, through the training of context-relevant coping skills

Coping in Context: Dispositional and Situational Coping of Navy Divers and Submariners

Specialists working in isolated, confined, and extreme environments may need to negotiate unique combinations of potentially stressful circumstances. This paper reports on three studies using the Brief COPE to examine some of the dispositional and situational coping strategies reported by navy divers and submariners. The first study investigated whether individual members of these specialist groups would favor similar coping response styles, and found that divers (N = 174) and submariners (N = 195) generally report similar coping styles, with some context appropriate nuances in their reports. Further, they share much of their profiles with other high-demand occupational settings, making their coping style profiles unique only in degree, rather than direction. The second study examined whether these navy specialists’ coping response styles would be stable across time, and through repeat administration of the Brief COPE (N = 237), found that they were remarkably stable over a period of almost 2 years. The third study investigated whether the same dispositional profile will be visible during specific submarine missions, or whether different, e.g., situational, coping strategies would be reported on board. Submariners appear to rely on similar coping strategies whether ashore or at sea, while also drawing on additional—and contextually appropriate—situational strategies while at sea. Thus while they rely on dispositional coping styles, they also seem responsive to changing environments during deployments. Practically, these findings could be used to assist divers and submariners to develop optimal coping strategies suited to their environments

Psychological considerations in submarine escape training: brief overview and future directions

The inability of a submarine to surface must rate as one of greatest risks to sailors in peacetime. To prepare for such emergencies, many navies provide training to master the procedures required to escape successfully from disabled submarines. This paper provides a brief overview of some of the psychological principles in simulated submarine escape training. It further discusses applicable psychological constructs such as positive outcome expectancies, the role of anxiety, and other personal factors mediating outcomes of such training. It concludes with recommendations for future research aimed at enhancing the safety and impact of submarine escape training. These include enhanced detection of psychological risk factors such as anxiety, as well as investigating the relative contribution of personality variables to in-training safety and positive outcome expectancies. These recommendations do not only apply to submarine escape training, but may also be applicable to high fidelity safety training in other off-shore survival contexts, such as helicopter underwater escape training, freefall lifeboat training and smoke diving

‘‘Covert Coping’’ in Extreme Environments: Insights from South African Submarines

Submariners are a group of people who live and work in enclosed habitats. In this confined environment, they need to balance the emotional needs of individuals with the resources of the group, to ensure effective coping for all. This study explored the mechanisms of maintaining this balance. Observations and a self-report measure (a modified Brief COPE) were used to describe the coping of submariners during deployment. Findings from the thematic analysis and self-report instrument are briefly described. An apparent contrast between the qualitative observations and quantitative data was noted, and when closely examined reveal two mechanisms whereby submariners managed their individual psychological needs without unbalancing the psychological state of the collective group. These were, firstly, the use of humor and talking nonsense as sublimated—or covert—way of venting emotions, and secondly, the use of rituals such as mealtimes as covert opportunities to provide and receive psychological support. This study illustrates how groups living in enclosed habitats may use covert mechanisms to cope with emotional needs, in order to maintain the emotional balance in the confined environment

Dispositional resilience predicts psychological adaptation of seafarers during and after maritime operations

Background: Seafarers, whether on cargo, fishery, or naval ships, may be exposed to unique and unusualpsychological demands related to the often isolated, confined, and extreme environments associated withocean-going vessels. This necessitates optimal psychological adaptation to maintain individual well-beingduring the mission and afterwards. This study set out to explore whether psychometric measures couldpredict psychological adaptation of seafarers, specifically navy sailors, during and after maritime operations.It used emotional regulation as marker of adaptation, and examined the role of psychometric measuresof dispositional resilience and emotional regulation to predict psychological adaptation at subsequenttime-points.Materials and methods: A total of 168 sailors completed the Brief Sailor Resiliency Scale, DispositionalResilience Scale 15, and Mental Toughness Questionnaire 18 prior to departing for sea, as well as the BrunelMood Scale at 5 time points over a 12-month operational cycle.Results: Higher resilience scores were consistently associated with more adaptive emotional regulation.Multiple linear regressions indicated that the Brief Sailor Resiliency Scale predicted emotional regulationover the shorter term, while the Mental Toughness Questionnaire 18 predicted emotional regulation overthe longer term. Further, mid-mission emotional regulation also predicted emotional regulation at the endof deployments.Conclusions: The findings support several practical applications. Firstly, formal organizational initiatives topromote resilience could be useful to enhance adaptation during and after missions. Secondly, measuringseafarers’ dispositional resilience could allow the streaming of vulnerable individuals towards appropriatemental health support services. Thirdly, past indicators of adaptation could be useful to enhance decision-making regarding subsequent utilisation. This may be applicable to seafarers in both naval servicesand commercial shipping, and to personnel in remote weather stations or other isolated and inaccessibleresearch facilities

Exploring the Emotional Dysregulation Scale-Short Form in isolated, confined, and extreme environments

The Emotional Dysregulation Scale-Short Form (EDS-S) may have potential for assessing emotional dysregulation (ED) both in general clinical mental health environments and in specialised work settings. Before it can be used fairly and appropriately, evidence of its validity in the local South African (SA) context is required. This study thus explored its psychometric characteristics among local working adult samples by pursuing three specific objectives, namely, to investigate its structural validity, its construct validity, and issues around practical use (e.g. priming bias and ability to predict performance). Data were collected across four samples that comprised general workers and specialised naval personnel (total N = 1374), who also completed measures of clinical mental health and other adjustment difficulties. Statistical analysis included examination of socio-demographic effects, internal consistencies, confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance, and associations with measures of mental health and adjustment difficulties (including binomial logistic regressions and receiver operating/operator characteristics curve analyses). This study reported evidence of structural and criterion validity, with significant associations to measures of mental health and adjustment difficulties, for the 12-item EDS-S in non-clinical samples of SA workers. The study further provided preliminary support for its predictive utility in specialised work environments. Preliminary evidence of validity of the EDS-S in SA worker samples with sufficient English proficiency was demonstrated. Contribution: There is some support for the use of the EDS-S in clinical research and applied practise. However, caution must be observed for possible effects of language proficiency and further research into the role of language is required

Diving, cannabis use, and techniques of neutralisation: exploring how divers rationalise cannabis use

Background: Diving medicine literature often regards the use of cannabis as a potential contra-indicator for fitness to dive. With that said, there has been no empirical research done with cannabis-using divers to examine how they subjectively understand and construct the risks that their cannabis use may have on their diving. This study explored how cannabis-using divers rationalise the pejorative associations of cannabis use through rhetorical techniques of neutralisation (TON) that function to deny the risks that cannabis use may have on their diving.  Materials and methods: Ten medically-fit professional divers from South Africa were individually intervie- wed. The interviews focussed on each diver’s reported recreational use of cannabis. The interviews were transcribed and analysed through a framework for TON originally formulated by Sykes and Matza (1957).  Results: Analysis revealed six primary TON employed to refute the pejorative associations of cannabis use on dive work, namely: 1. Denial of responsibility: which denies a diver’s direct culpability for their cannabis use; 2. Denial of injury: which asserts that no (serious) harm results from a diver’s cannabis use; 3. Denial of victim: which repudiates the potentially deleterious effects that cannabis use may have on a diver; 4. Condemnation of condemners: which minimises cannabis use in relation to other divers’ unsafe diving practices; 5. Appeal to loyalties: which situates cannabis use within interpersonal networks to whom a diver has a “higher” allegiance; 6. Denial of penalty: which justifies cannabis use by virtue of a perceived lack of punitive action by a Diving Medical Examiner.  Conclusions: The findings of this research highlight the TON which potentially inform a diver’s cannabis use, particularly in relation to their diving. Identifying such TON carry important implications for the ways in which fitness to dive is assessed.