Associations Among Exposure to Potentially Morally Injurious Experiences, Spiritual Injury, and Alcohol Use Among Combat Veterans.

Abstract

Potentially morally injurious experiences (PMIEs) are events that may violate deeply held values or belief systems. Combat engagement places service members at a heightened risk for PMIE exposure. Exposure to PMIEs may elicit internal conflict between moral beliefs and experiences and, if unresolved, conflict may manifest as feelings of guilt, shame, and spiritual or existential crisis. Further, distress caused by these experiences may promote harmful behaviors (e.g., excessive alcohol use), which may serve as attempts to cope with PMIEs veterans have witnessed or participated in. The present study examined a sequential mediation model in which combat exposure was associated with alcohol use (i.e., alcohol consumption, dependence symptoms, and alcohol-related problems) via PMIE exposure and spiritual injury (e.g., alienation from and/or anger towards respective higher power) in a community sample of 380 recent-era combat veterans. Multiple-group sequential mediation was then used to examine whether the model fit similarly across men and women. Exposure to PMIEs and spiritual injury sequentially mediated the association between combat and alcohol; higher levels of PMIE exposure and spiritual injury were associated with increased alcohol use, R2 = .17, f2 = 0.07. The multiple-group model showed that these associations significantly varied between genders such that the mediation was only significant among men. The results indicated that PMIEs and spiritual injury were associated with increased alcohol use, but these associations differed as a function of gender. Future research is needed to refine our understanding of moral and spiritual injury and explore possible risk and protective factors.