Average Military Service Length and Soldiers’ General Health

Arsia Taghva; Masoud Azizi; Mohammad Hossein Rajabian; Mojgan Khademi; Abbas Omid; Vahid Donyavi; Seyed Mozaffar Rohani; Arsia Taghva; Masoud Azizi; Mohammad Hossein Rajabian; Mojgan Khademi; Abbas Omid; Vahid Donyavi; Seyed Mozaffar Rohani

doi:0.5812/jamm.20604

Journal of Archives in Military Medicine

JAMM International

Home

Current Issue All Issues In Press Articles Search Accepted Manuscripts

Instructions

Journal Information Board and Committees Indexing and Listing Sources Journal Metrics Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement Support Reviewer and AE Registration Form Contact Us Open Peer Review (OPR)

Authors Guide Submit Manuscript

https://doi.org/10.5812/jamm.20604

Average Military Service Length and Soldiers’ General Health

Author(s):

Arsia Taghva,

Masoud Azizi,

Mohammad Hossein Rajabian,

Mojgan Khademi,

Abbas Omid,

Vahid Donyavi,

Seyed Mozaffar Rohani,

Arsia Taghva

¹,

Masoud Azizi^2,*,

Mohammad Hossein Rajabian³,

Mojgan Khademi⁴,

Abbas Omid³,

Vahid Donyavi¹,

Seyed Mozaffar Rohani³

1Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Disaster and Military Psychiatry Research Center, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran

2Department of English Language and Literature, University of Tehran, Tehran, IR Iran

3Department of Psychiatry, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran

4Department of Psychiatry, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran

Journal of Archives in Military Medicine:Vol. 2, issue 4; e93727

Published online:Oct 18, 2014

Article type:Research Article

Received:May 15, 2019

Accepted:Sep 16, 2014

How to Cite:Taghva A, Azizi M, Rajabian MH, Khademi M, Omid A, et al. Average Military Service Length and Soldiers’ General Health. J Arch Mil Med. 2014;2(4):e93727. doi: https://doi.org/10.5812/jamm.20604

Abstract

Background: Military service constitutes a stressful phase of an individual’s life, which can have psychological consequences and affect both their mental and physical health. Different variables in this regard have been examined so far, but the role of average length of service has gone unnoticed to a great extent.

Objectives: As a result, the present study was an attempt to examine the effect of military service length on soldiers’ mental health assessed by the use of the four subscales present in the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ- 28).

Patients and Methods: Seven-hundred soldiers from three different randomly selected military bases in the North, Center, and South of Iran took part in the present study. Data were collected on the participants’ demographical information as well as their general health condition using GHQ-28.

Results: Nearly 11 percent of the participants were diagnosed as having psychological disorders. The average service length for those diagnosed with psychological disorders was found to be 14.36 months (SD = 2.93), while it was only 8.5 months (SD = 1.89) in the case of healthy soldiers. Depressive symptoms were the most common problem among soldiers, with anxiety and social dysfunction standing second and third, respectively. The difference between the two groups’ length of service was found statistically significant in the case of all the three constructs being examined (p _depression = 0.00, p _anxiety = 0.03, p _{social dysfunctioning} = 0.01).

Conclusions: Soldiers represent a major proportion of the male population in the society in Iran, and their health condition can indicate the society’s general health condition. However, it seems that as one’s length of service increases, the risk of suffering from psychological disorders is raised, which threatens the whole society’s psychological health conditions. The results of the present study imply that in order to have healthier individuals in the army and the society as a result, authorities need to take action.

Keywords

Military Service Length

References

1.
The references are available in PDF file.

Mental health screening of Iranian conscripts during basic military training in Guilan province

ehsan kivehee,

Hamid Jalali

kivehee E, Jalali H. Mental health screening of Iranian conscripts during basic military training in Guilan province. Ann Mil Health Sci Res. 2014;12(3):e63275. doi:

27

Sep

2020

Journal of Archives in Military Medicine

Spiritual and Psychological Well-Being of Soldiers in Military Barracks: A Case Study in Iran

Mohammad Hosein Fadaei,

Mahya Torkaman,

Jamileh Farokhzadian

Fadaei MH, Torkaman M, Farokhzadian J. Spiritual and Psychological Well-Being of Soldiers in Military Barracks: A Case Study in Iran. J Arch Mil Med. 2020;8(1):e108725. doi: https://doi.org/10.5812/jamm.108725

5

Feb

2014

Mental Health in Spouses of Iraq-Iran War Veterans With PTSD

Arsia Taghva,

Parviz Dabbaghi,

Susan Shafighi,

Seyyed Mohammad Ali Mortazaviha,

Vahid Donyavi

Taghva A, Dabbaghi P, Shafighi S, Mortazaviha SMA, Donyavi V. Mental Health in Spouses of Iraq-Iran War Veterans With PTSD. J Arch Mil Med. 2014;2(1):e17010. doi: https://doi.org/10.5812/jamm.17010

7

May

2013

Survey of relationship between job satisfaction and personality type with mental health in army ground Personnel

Zeinab Rasoli,

Reza Eslamy

Rasoli Z, Eslamy R. Survey of relationship between job satisfaction and personality type with mental health in army ground Personnel. Ann Mil Health Sci Res. 2013;11(2):e65206. doi:

23

Jan

2014

Role of sports on scales of mental health among a battalion of Iranian conscripts

Ayoub Behroozi,

Saeed Abdimoghadam

Behroozi A, Abdimoghadam S. Role of sports on scales of mental health among a battalion of Iranian conscripts. Ann Mil Health Sci Res. 2014;12(1):e63557. doi:

Import into EndNote Import into BibTex

Crossmark

Checking

Share on

Comments

Number of Comments:0

Cited by

Scopus by DOI: 0
Last Update: 1 month ago
Scopus by Title: 0
Last Update: 1 month ago
Scopus by Title (Ref): 0
Last Update: 1 month ago
CrossRef: 0
Last Update: 2 days ago

Metrics

Licensing and reuse information

Ordering Reprints

Articles are published under the Creative Commons license stated on each article. No permission or royalty fee is required for uses permitted by that license. CCC handles optional bulk and customized reprint orders. Any quotation covers production and delivery services only, not copyright permission. > Request Reprints from CCC

Search Relations

Author(s):

Arsia Taghva:[PubMed][Scholar]
Masoud Azizi:[PubMed][Scholar]
Mohammad Hossein Rajabian:[PubMed][Scholar]
Mojgan Khademi:[PubMed][Scholar]
Abbas Omid:[PubMed][Scholar]
Vahid Donyavi:[PubMed][Scholar]
Seyed Mozaffar Rohani:[PubMed][Scholar]
Arsia Taghva:[PubMed][Scholar]
Masoud Azizi:[PubMed][Scholar]
Mohammad Hossein Rajabian:[PubMed][Scholar]
Mojgan Khademi:[PubMed][Scholar]
Abbas Omid:[PubMed][Scholar]
Vahid Donyavi:[PubMed][Scholar]
Seyed Mozaffar Rohani:[PubMed][Scholar]

JAMM International

Outlines

Average Military Service Length and Soldiers’ General Health

Abstract

References

Similar Articles

Mental health screening of Iranian conscripts during basic military training in Guilan province

Spiritual and Psychological Well-Being of Soldiers in Military Barracks: A Case Study in Iran

Mental Health in Spouses of Iraq-Iran War Veterans With PTSD

Survey of relationship between job satisfaction and personality type with mental health in army ground Personnel

Role of sports on scales of mental health among a battalion of Iranian conscripts

Crossmark

Checking

Last Update: 1 month ago

Last Update: 1 month ago

Last Update: 1 month ago

Last Update: 2 days ago