Associations between Insomnia Severity, Perceived Stress, Mental Toughness, Dark Triad Traits, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior among Cadets of the Swiss Armed Forces.

Background: Compared to the general population, military personnel are at increased risk for insomnia and poor psychological well-being. The present study: (1) compared categories of insomnia severity between cadets of the Swiss Armed Forces (SAF) and previously published norms and (2) investigated the associations between insomnia and psychological well-being related to perceived stress, mental toughness, dark triad traits, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).

Methods: A total of 216 cadets of the SAF (mean age: 20.

On the Utility of Indirect Methods for Detecting Faking.

Indirect indices for faking detection in questionnaires make use of a respondent's deviant or unlikely response pattern over the course of the questionnaire to identify them as a faker. Compared with established direct faking indices (i.e.

A comparison of conventional and resampled personal reliability in detecting careless responding.

Detecting careless responding in survey data is important to ensure the credibility of study findings. Of several available detection methods, personal reliability (PR) is one of the best-performing indices. Curran, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 66, 4-19, (2016) proposed a resampled version of personal reliability (RPR).

Careless responding detection revisited: Accuracy of direct and indirect measures.

To screen for careless responding, researchers have a choice between several direct measures (i.e., bogus items, requiring the respondent to choose a specific answer) and indirect measures (i.

Military Values, Military Virtues, and Vulnerable Narcissism among Cadets of the Swiss Armed Forces-Results of a Cross-Sectional Study.

: For military leaders, military values and virtues are important psychological prerequisites for successful leadership and for ethical and moral military behavior. However, research on predictors of military values and virtues is scarce. Given this background, we investigated whether Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB), resilience, and vulnerable narcissism might be favorably or unfavorably associated with military values and virtues, and whether vulnerable narcissism could moderate the association between the OCB-by-resilience-interaction, and military virtues.

The utility of the psycholexical approach for identifying military core values: Illustrated in a sample of Swiss career officers and NCOs.

Values have always been a top priority in the military domains of leadership, training, ethical commitment, and psychological research. However, only a few studies have assessed value descriptors and their underlying dimensional structure in military organizations using an empirical psycholexical and factor analytical approach. This research project examined the structure of military values and derived core military values.

An examination of model fit and measurement invariance of general mental ability and personality measures used in the multilingual context of the Swiss Armed Forces: A Bayesian structural equation modeling approach.

Measurement invariance of psychological test batteries is an essential quality criterion when the test batteries are administered in different cultural and language contexts. The purpose of this study was to examine to what extent measurement model fit and measurement invariance across the two largest language groups in Switzerland (i.e.

Effects of resilience training on mental, emotional, and physical stress outcomes in military officer cadets.

Resilience is an important factor in counteracting the harmful effects of stress and is associated with healthy physiological and psychological responses to stress. Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of resilience fostering training programs in psychobiological stress response and recovery. Few studies, however, have examined training effects in real-life high-stress situations.

Effects of Resilience Training on Resilient Functioning in Chronic Stress Situations among Cadets of the Swiss Armed Forces.

Research on resilient functioning has gained increasing interest, and some recent studies interpreted resilience in the sense of resilient functioning to stress. In the present study, we investigated the associations between resilient functioning and coping strategies, stress reactivity, self-efficacy, and well-being, and we examined whether resilient functioning could be improved through a training intervention. The participants were 110 male cadets from two infantry officers' schools of the Swiss Armed Forces.

Testosterone and cortisol responses to acute and prolonged stress during officer training school.

Prolonged or severe stress has been found to inhibit the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (HPG) and its testosterone release. In contrast, acute stress, including competition, social evaluation, or physical challenges, shows more inconsistent response patterns. This study examined changes in cortisol and testosterone across different types and durations of stress in the same individuals.

Effects of stress beliefs on the emotional and biological response to acute psychosocial stress in healthy men.

Background: Negative beliefs about stress (e.g., "stress is bad") constitute an independent risk factor for increased morbidity and mortality.

Does Training Motivation Influence Resilience Training Outcome on Chronic Stress? Results from an Interventional Study.

Resilience is understood as an acquired skill which aids in coping with acute and chronic stress. Accordingly, the present study aimed to determine the effect of resilience training on mental health problems during chronic stress. To this end, we conducted a quasi-experimental study with 127 male cadets (mean age: 21 years) of the Swiss Armed Forces officers' school.

The Source of Power Matters: Positional Power as a Better Predictor of Sexual Interest Perceptions than Dispositional Power Among Men within a Military Context.

The current research examined the roles of positional power induced by one's hierarchical position in an organization and dispositional power (i.e., one's general feeling of power) in the perception of sexual interest in a military context.

Resilience as a Protective Factor in Basic Military Training, a Longitudinal Study of the Swiss Armed Forces.

For recruits, basic military training (BMT) can be experienced as a stressful episode in which relevant protective factors such as resilience might be essential for successful completion of the training. The present study examined whether resilience would act as a protective factor during BMT in the Swiss Armed Forces. To this end, we conducted a cross-sectional and longitudinal study of resilience and psychological burden.

Somatization and Coping in Ethnic Minority Recruits.

Introduction: Military service can have beneficial social effects on minorities. However, minority groups are also often at greater risk of somatizing psychological distress and coping maladaptively. In military training this would result in lower mental health of minorities and contribute to higher drop-out rates.

Physical fitness level affects perception of chronic stress in military trainees.

This study investigated whether physical fitness affects the perception of chronic stress in military trainees while controlling for established factors influencing stress perception. The sample consisted of 273 men (20.23 ± 1.

Aerobic Fitness Level Affects Cardiovascular and Salivary Alpha Amylase Responses to Acute Psychosocial Stress.

Background: Good physical fitness seems to help the individual to buffer the potential harmful impact of psychosocial stress on somatic and mental health. The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of physical fitness levels on the autonomic nervous system (ANS; i.e.

Psychological distress and coping in military cadre candidates.

Background: Soldiers must cope with stressors during both military operations and training if they are to accomplish their missions successfully and stay mentally stable. This holds true particularly for military superiors, as they bear greater responsibilities and must meet greater demands during both deployment and training. Accordingly, in the present study, we investigated whether recruits chosen for further promotion at the end of basic training differed with regard to psychological distress and coping strategies from those not chosen for promotion, and whether recruits' coping styles and distress levels were associated.

Adapted marching distances and physical training decrease recruits' injuries and attrition.

There is evidence that progressive loading of physical demands at the beginning of basic military service and specific physical training can reduce injury incidences. Therefore, aim of this study was to measure the effects of a progressive increase in marching distances and an adapted physical training program on injury incidence and attrition rate in a Swiss Army infantry training school. One company reduced the distances covered on foot during the first 4 weeks of basic military training.

Hair cortisol concentration is unaffected by basic military training, but related to sociodemographic and environmental factors.

The analysis of hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) is a promising new biomarker for retrospective measurement of chronic stress. The effect of basic military training (BMT) on chronic stress has not yet been reported. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of 10-week BMT on HCC, while further exploring the role of known and novel covariates.

Mood and autonomic responses to repeated exposure to the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups (TSST-G).

Introduction: A group version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST-G) was introduced as a standardized, economic and efficient tool to induce a psychobiological stress response simultaneously in a group of subjects. The aim of the present study was to examine the efficacy of the TSST-G to repeatedly induce an affective and autonomic stress response while comparing two alternative protocols for the second examination.

Methods And Materials: Healthy young male recruits participated twice in the TSST-G 10 weeks apart.

Intensive two-day cognitive-behavioral intervention decreases cortisol secretion in soldiers suffering from specific phobia to wear protective mask.

Research Questions: Wearing a protective mask is compulsory for those in professions such as fire-fighters, rescue personnel and soldiers. The phobia to wear a protective mask is considered a specific claustrophobia and may become of major concern during military service. To date, no data are available with respect to the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical system activity (HPA SA) for both the so-called protective mask phobia (PMP) and its treatment.