Effect of bravery on mental health of plateau soldiers: based on modification of negative cognitive processing bias

• Main Authors: WANG Jia, ZHANG Jingxuan, XUE Yitong, XU Ke, XIAO Hong
• Format: Article
• Language: zho
• Published: Editorial Office of Journal of Third Military Medical University 2020-08-01
• Series: Di-san junyi daxue xuebao
• Subjects: high altitude; military personnel; mental health; bravery; negative cognitive processing bias; longitudinal study
• Online Access: http://aammt.tmmu.edu.cn/Upload/rhtml/202003331.htm

Objective To explore the longitudinal characteristics of mental health in the soldiers stationing in the plateau, and the predictive roles of bravery and negative cognitive processing bias. Methods Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) was used to make a longitudinal survey on 255 plateau soldiers for 3 consecutive years during 2016 and 2018. The bravery scores of them in the year of 2016 and the negative cognitive processing bias scores in 2017 were employed to make causality prediction for the mental health scores of 198 soldiers in 2018. Results ① There were no significant differences in the average scores of mental health in the participants in the years of 2016 to 2018; The number of longitudinal positive items was significantly different in the 3 years of follow-up, so were the average scores of these positive items. ② Demographic variables and military occupational variables showed no obvious effect on the mental health scores of the participants in the 3 years (P>0.05). ③The negative cognitive processing bias showed significant modification effect on bravery and mental health (t=-2.34, P < 0.01), accounting for 25.3% of the variation rate of mental health. Conclusion There are no significant differences in the longitudinal average total scores of mental health in the plateau soldiers during the 3 years. The number of positive items in 2018 is obviously lower than that in 2017, in a downward trend. But, the average scores of positive items in 2018 is higher than those in 2016 and 2017, indicating an upward trend. Bravery has a negative effect on mental health score, while negative cognitive processing bias has a positive effect on mental health score. The relationship between bravery and mental health is regulated by negative cognitive processing bias.