[Mental disorders in German soldiers after deployment - impact of personal values and resilience].

Objective: Soldiers are at increased risk of developing mental health disorders after military deployment. The impact of personal values on psychological symptomatology based on an empirical working model has not yet been studied in a military environment.

Methods: 117 German Armed Forces soldiers completed the Portrait-Values-Questionnaire (PVQ), the Patient-Health-Questionnaire (PHQ) and the Resilience-Scale (RS-11) after their deployment to Afghanistan.

Personal values in soldiers after military deployment: associations with mental health and resilience.

Background: After military deployment, soldiers are at an increased risk of developing posttraumatic psychiatric disorders. The correlation of personal values with symptoms, however, has not yet been examined within a military context.

Method: Schwartz's Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ), the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale (PDS), and the 11-item version of the Resilience Scale (RS-11) were completed by 117 soldiers of the German Armed Forces who had recently been deployed to Afghanistan (n=40 undergoing initial psychiatric treatment, n=77 untreated).