Publication Date
2024
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
First Advisor
Boutin, Daniel
Degree Name
Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)
Legacy Department
School of Interdisciplinary Health Professions
Abstract
Moral injury has been widely studied in male combat-deployed active-duty personnel and veterans, with little inclusion of non-combat or never-deployed experiences. Moral injury research has primarily focused on adverse outcomes. Within military moral injury research, there is limited information on individual branches of service or rank-specific experiences. The purpose of this study was to explore moral injury event exposure and posttraumatic growth within a single branch of service, the Marine Corps, with a focus on rank status and the inclusion of non-combat and never-deployed veterans. A community-based approach was used to recruit participants over a 2-month period. Participants completed a 15-minute online survey, and for every completed survey, a $5.00 donation was made to the Semper Fi and America’s Fund. A total of 215 responses were collected; 80% were included. The 172 participants were racially diverse. 50% were between the ages of 21-25, and 5% of participants were female. There were 163 enlisted and 9 officer participants, the average length of service was 8 years, and the average number of deployments was 2. There was no statistically significant difference in moral injury event exposure (p = .152) or posttraumatic growth (p = .105) between deployment history groups; all participants regardless of deployment history (combat, non-combat, and never-deployed) experienced moral injury event exposure and posttraumatic growth. There was a statistically significant difference (p = .030) in moral injury event exposure between officer and enlisted participants. Enlisted participants experienced greater moral injury event exposure. In addition, females experienced more moral injury event exposure but less posttraumatic growth than their male peers. This study lends itself to be replicated in other military samples. Findings support previous research for the inclusion of posttraumatic growth as an outcome to moral injury. Furthermore, findings suggest there may be rank-specific differences to moral injury and posit a need to assess moral injury event exposure beyond the combat experience.
Recommended Citation
Paulin, Hira Jean Byrne, "Beyond Combat: Moral Injury Exposure In officer and Enlisted Marine Veterans With Diverse Deployment Histories and The Relationship With Posttraumatic Growth" (2024). Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations. 7918.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-thesesdissertations/7918
Extent
174 pages
Language
en
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.
Media Type
Text
