Childhood antecedents of psychological adaptation to military life

This study examined the impact of a history of childhood abuse and neglect on soldiers' adaptation to Army life including commitment to the Army, confidence in leaders, and perceptions of unit cohesion and readiness. Childhood abuse and neglect were measured by the 30-item Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) which comprises four subscales-sexual abuse, physical-emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect. Information was obtained through a survey of 1,051 male soldiers and 305 female soldiers from combat support and combat service support units located at three different Army posts in the United States. The study found that of the four CTQ subscales, emotional neglect was the only variable predicting lower unit cohesion and lower confidence in leaders for both male and female soldiers even after controlling for concurrent psychological symptoms and sociodemographic variables. Emotional neglect during childhood may have a negative impact on soldiers' ability to access social support within their units, a factor that has been shown to prevent psychological breakdown in combat.