The Impact of Resilience and Grit on Inductive and Deductive Reasoning Following Exposure to Combat-Like Environments

Cognitive processes have been shown to be severely affected by exposure to combat and war. While the negative impact of war on cognitive performance is apparent through numerous soldier narratives, the scientific investigation of this phenomenon is limited. Furthermore, the moderating influence of an individual’s resilience and grit on cognitive functions following combat environments is unknown. Understanding this interaction is essential in further understanding individual cognitive performance. Because the psychological wounds inflicted by combat situations affect individuals’ mental health, studying how such environments influence cognitive processes and performance can improve the training of our soldiers. This dissertation focuses on assessing how combat-like environments influence an individual’s ability to effectively and efficiently reason, and further examines whether an individual’s grit and resilience affect deductive and inductive reasoning in stressful environments. Participants were recruited from a private US military academy. The study used a pretest-posttest mixed design to investigate possible cognitive decrements in individuals’ ability to reason following exposure to war-like environments simulated by immersive and non-immersive technologies. Dependent measures included both inductive and deductive reasoning (as measured by The Letter Sets Test and Overton’s (1990) version of the Wason Selection Task, respectively) by placing participants into the immersive or non-immersive conditions. Self-reported resilience and grit were tested for interaction effects to examine how an individual’s resilience and grit influences an individual’s ability to reason in war-like environments. These findings might give a richer understanding of the ways in which cognitive mechanisms are affected by stressful environments like combat

The impact of expressive flexibility and self-control on moral competence following exposure to simulated combat-like environments in 18-22-year-old U.S. Military Recruits

The impact on moral competence following exposure to combat-like environments can be found in soldier narratives, however, limited scientific research investigates such effects. Moreover, the influence of one’s expressive flexibility and self-control on moral competence following combat-like environments is unknown. Employing a univariate design, this study recruited 107 participants (i.e., ages 18 to 22) from a private U.S. Military university to examine the impact on moral competence, including potential moderating effects of expressive flexibility and self-control, following exposure to combat-like environments. To simulate a combat-like environments, participants were placed in either immersive (i.e., Bravemind) or non-immersive (i.e., Virtual Battlespace 3) virtual environments. Self-reported expressive flexibility, self-control, and moral competence were assessed. Results revealed that following exposure to combat-like environments, an individual’s moral competence increased. A main effect of self-control on moral competence indicated that an individual’s self-control directly effects an individual’s moral competence. Findings from this study offers a richer comprehension of how, following simulated combat environments, moral competence can be influenced, and how expressive flexibility and self-control can aid in protecting mental health and wellbeing, even in judging moral dilemmas

The Influence of Resilience and Expressive Flexibility on Character Strengths and Virtues on Military Leadership in U.S. Military Cadets

Introduction: Character strengths and virtues are greatly revered in military leadership. However, there is no empirical work assessing the relationship of resilience and expressive flexibility, two essential psychological constructs crucial in nurturing mentally healthy individuals, also for successful officer development and military leadership. Methods: Employing a cross-sectional design, this study recruited 107 participants (ages 18 to 22) from a private U.S. Military university. McGrath, Rashid, Park, and Peterson’s and Peterson and Seligman’s taxonomies of character strengths and virtues were measured. Self-reported resilience and expressive flexibility were additionally assessed. Results: Results revealed McGrath et al.’s virtue of self-control and Peterson and Seligman’s virtues of temperance, wisdom and knowledge, and humanity as the top ranked virtues for an effective military leader. In terms of character strengths, judgment ranked the highest, with perspective and fairness, second and third. Additional results showed a model suggesting that resilience and expressive flexibility explained 45.9% of variance suggesting that resilience and expressive flexibility significantly (p \u3c .001) predicted leadership. Regression models that included honesty, social intelligence, and hope also offered significant predictive outcomes on leadership (p \u3c .001). Furthermore, results revealed that expressive flexibility predicted the character strengths of creativity (p = .001), bravery (p = .045), love (p = .044), hope (p = .016), teamwork (p = .013), appreciation of beauty (p = .016), curiosity (p = .044), prudence (p = .034), love of learning (p = .020), zest (p = .017), humor (p = .018), and perspective (p = .003). Conclusions: Understanding the relationships amongst these constructs will help in better cultivating protective mechanisms that safeguard from adversity, in encouraging wellness and health, and in supporting healthy human performance and development

Resilience, Grit, and Hardiness: Determining the Relationships amongst these Constructs through Structural Equation Modeling Techniques

A significant body of research has demonstrated the need to better understand character constructs that are integral in influencing and predicting human performance, specifically investigating resilience, grit, and hardiness. However, limited studies have examined the relationships that exist within these constructs. The current research addresses this gap by utilizing numerous structural equation modeling techniques to report on the relationships among resilience, grit, and hardiness. Employing a sample from the United States Military Academy (N = 1205), participants were asked to complete the Response to Stressful Experiences Scale, the Grit Scale, and the Dispositional Resilience Scale as part of the Reception Day battery of tests. Correlations matrixes reported positive relationships amongst resilience, grit, and hardiness. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) revealed a six-factor model structure of resilience and a bi-factor model of grit and hardiness. Additional CFAs revealed a three-factor model structure among the three constructs, resilience, grit, and hardiness. Implications for further work are presented

Expressive flexibility and resilience among U.S. military college students: Evaluating the enhancing and suppressing of emotions and resilience

Significant research has confirmed the necessity to better comprehend psychological constructs that are essential in predicting and influencing human performance, in particular, assessing expressive flexibility and resilience. However, limited research has investigated the relationships that exist between these two constructs that are critical protective factors in facilitating the mental health and the well-being of individuals. Through a number of structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques, the current endeavor evaluates this gap to assess the relationship between these two constructs. Utilizing a military student sample from a private U.S. military university (N = 107), participants completed the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) and the Flexible Regulation of Emotional Expression (FREE) scale. Correlations matrixes reported positive relationships between expressive flexibility and resilience. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) revealed a bi-factor models of expressive flexibility and resilience. Additional CFAs revealed a two-factor model structure between expressive flexibility and resilience. Implications for future work are offered

Predicting physical symptoms through expressions of loneliness and anxiety in individuals utilizing social media during SARS-CoV-2

The effect of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has produced significant health concerns negatively impacting individuals. As the ongoing and constantly changing nature of SARS-CoV-2 continues, the unique characteristics of this pandemic trend toward anxiety and loneliness as significant behavioral health outcomes. Furthermore, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has significantly impacted the utilization of social media platforms such as Twitter. Utilizing over 1.6 million tweets from approximately 988,760 Twitter users geolocated in Washington state from the University of Pennsylvania’s publicly available Twitter database (from March 2020 to March 2021), this study evaluated the impact of SARS-CoV-2 by using expressions of loneliness and anxiety to predict mental and physical symptoms. Bivariate correlations revealed expressions of loneliness were correlated to trouble breathing while expressions of anxiety were correlated to skin lesions, body aches, flu-like, seasonal cold, trouble breathing, nausea or diarrhea, fever, chills, and cough. Multiple multivariate linear regressions were completed, and a significant regression equation was found in predicting trouble breathing symptoms on expressions of loneliness and anxiety, however, the proportion of variance was 8% of the observed variation in the model. Further implications revealed the importance of understanding mental and physical well-being during a public health crisis as well as the use of social media platforms as primary and supplementary stimuli