Effects of psychological intervention on military personnel’s social support, coping styles and psychosomatic health and their relationships

Abstract

Objective To explore the effects of psychological intervention on military personnel’s social support, coping styles and psychosomatic health and their relationships. Methods Military gymnastics were taken as intervention method in this study. A total of 812 military personnel were administered the Military Personnel Scene-Trait Coping Style Scale (MPSTCSS), the Military Personnel Social Support Scale and the Simplified version of Psychosomatic Health Questionnaire. The data was processed by using t-test, correlative analysis, stepwise linear regression analysis and path analysis in SPSS version 17.0 and Amos17.0. Results The scores of passive coping factor, subjective support factor score, physical symptoms and mental symptom in the experimental group were significantly lower than the those of control group(respectively, 74.91±20.46 vs 83.03±25.1, 2.02±3.14 vs 2.60±2.71, 5.58±6.00 vs 26.98±4.96, 3.91±4.80 vs 23.01±4.31, P≤0.05). The scores of active coping factor in the experimental group(133.66±23.30) were significantly higher than the those of the control group(130.07±24.88, P<0.05). Passive coping of the experimental group positively correlated with all single factors of social support and psychosomatic health(r=0.410~0.512, P<0.01). Active coping of experimental group negatively correlated with all single factors of social support and psychosomatic health(r=-0.300~-0.418, P<0.01). All single factors of social support positively correlated with psychosomatic health(r=0.349~0.561, P<0.01). Regression analysis showed that social support, passive coping and active coping were entered into the regressive function(P≤0.030), accounting for 37% of total variance. The influence of coping styles on psychosomatic health was enhanced by intervention of social support. A pathway model of social support as mediator of relationship between psychosomatic health and coping styles was established, the fitting indexes of which were as follows: χ2/df=1.799 (P=0.055), GFI=0.988, AGFI=0.965, CFI=0.996, RMSEA=0.044. Conclusion Military gymnastic could effectively improve the military personnel’s capacity for coping, subjective support, and psychosomatic health. Social support and scene-trait coping style would exert significant effects on military personnel’s psychosomatic health. Social support mediates the relationship between coping styles and psychosomatic health. Key words: Psychological intervention; Military personnel; Coping style; Social support