Date of Conferral

2016

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Martha Giles

Abstract

Since the establishment of the individual augmentee role within the U.S. Navy, little research has examined this nontraditional role associated with combat units. The majority of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) research has been dedicated to Army and Marine Corps personnel with little research conducted on the Navy population. The purpose of this nonexperimental study was to identify the prevalence of combat-related PTSD symptomology for Navy personnel returning from an augmentee tour. The link between component and tour length and the presence of individual resilience factors on PTSD were examined. The theoretical foundation of this research included the cognitive link between the single and multiple exposures to traumatic events and the automatic conditioned responses related to the combat-related trauma using a retrospective view of archival datasets. Data analysis included a chi square test of independence and factoral analysis of variance to identify the combat-related PTSD symptoms and its associated variables. The sample size was a stratified random sampling of 570 cases. The results of this analysis support an association between location of tours and PTSD symptomology as well as a small effect between number of deployments and PTSD symptomology irrespective of status. These results will benefit the U.S. Navy enlisted personnel by increasing the awareness of a trend in combat-related PTSD, identify protective factors in resilience, and showcase the need for greater focus of these issues within Navy policy and leadership.

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