Psychological Distress in Iranian Military Personnel: The role of Virtues and Character Strengths

Abstract

Objective: Military personnel have high-risk occupations. Virtues and strengths as the values that govern the actions and behavior are suitable predictors for these jobs. We intend to examine comprehensively the role of virtues and character strengths on psychological distress in military personnel. Methods: The present study is a cross-section, correlational study. 410 Iranian military officers completed the demographic questionnaire and the Virtues Inventory in Action (VIA-120) and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Results: According to the results of the present study, the virtues of justice and humanity had a higher average than other virtues. Among the character strengths, respectively, Integrity, Kindness, Gratitude, Persistence, Open mindedness, Social intelligence were six of the most important strengths with which military personnel described themselves. The virtue of temperance and transcendence were related to work experience. Only wisdom was differed significantly at the academic level. No significant differences were found between the virtues in military ranks. All dimensions of virtues and character strengths were significantly associated with psychological distress. But only the dimension of transcendence had the power to predict psychological distress. Conclusion: Strengthening the dimension of transcendence can reduce psychological distress in military personnel. recognizing most importance Virtues and character strengths in Military Personnel and discovering implications additional ways to promote the virtues, military personnel can improve their performance.

Keywords

• psychological distress
• virtues
• character strengths
• military personnel