Moral context, coping strategies, and mental health outcomes among combat veterans

Objective: Although research has been conducted on the influence of coping strategies on mental health, research has not investigated the relationships among moral context, the adoption of those strategies, and mental health outcomes. Design: Studies were designed to measure the effects of moral context (specifically, moral injury and ethical leadership) on the adoption of adaptive or maladaptive coping strategies and their subsequent mental health consequences. Method: Data was collected on 551 total military personnel, spanning two distinct survey administrations, who reported at least one combat deployment. Results: Findings suggest that ethical leadership is associated with greater adaptive coping strategy adoption, while potentially morally injurious events (particularly self-transgression) are associated with greater maladaptive coping strategy adoption. Mediation analysis demonstrated that a significant portion of the effect of self-transgression on depression (95% CI [0.003, 0.038]) and anxiety (95% CI [0.004, 0.066]) is attributable to its attendant increase in maladaptive coping strategy adoption. Conclusions: This research suggests that moral context can lead to differential adoption of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies. It also suggests that maladaptive coping strategies can account for a portion of the effect of self-transgression moral injury on depression and anxiety.