Abstract
The aftermath of war-related trauma may entail psychological devastation and is typically accompanied by various deleterious phenomena. These include, but are not limited to, high rates of loneliness. However, trauma may also result in positive outcomes such as personal, spiritual, and relational prosperity, which are typically considered under the conceptual framework of post-traumatic growth (PTG). PTG may theoretically contribute to either loneliness amelioration (e.g., via increasing one’s appreciation of close relationships) or exacerbation (e.g., by increasing one’s sense of undergoing experiences that others do not share). Loneliness, on the other hand, may potentially hinder PTG by fostering negative social cognitions and behaviors, or otherwise lead to personal growth. The relations between the two phenomena, however, have yet to be investigated. Filling this gap, the current study examined the aforementioned potentialities by utilizing an autoregressive cross-lagged modeling strategy (ARCL) with a cohort of 260 Israeli combat veterans assessed 30, 35, and 42 years after their participation in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Results indicated that higher rates of PTG were consistently related to higher rates of loneliness both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Loneliness, however, did not longitudinally predict PTG rates. It is suggested that these findings may be understood in light of the observation that veterans’ loneliness is primarily related to the experience of being experientially out of sync with people who have not endured war experiences. It is suggested that this experiential loneliness may include not only the negative but also the positive ramifications of undergoing such traumas (i.e., PTG). We, therefore, argue that while PTG may include authentic positive transformations it may also lead to more negative ramifications, and these should be identified and addressed by researchers and clinicians alike. Thus, as study limitations are acknowledged, clinical implications, and future research directions are suggested.
Highlights
The stressors of war (Nash, 2007) and war captivity (Hunter, 1993) are vast and multifaceted, and many of them are of an interpersonal nature
The analysis revealed that the stability of post-traumatic growth (PTG) over time, as well as the stability of loneliness, was noticeably high and significant
Findings indicated that loneliness and PTG were consistently related cross-sectionally (H1) as well as prospectively (H2)
Summary
The stressors of war (Nash, 2007) and war captivity (Hunter, 1993) are vast and multifaceted, and many of them are of an interpersonal nature (e.g., humiliations, psychological abuse, punitive torture; Stein et al, 2015). The detrimental aftermaths of war and captivity have been the focus of countless studies, ranging across domains such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), premature mortality, suicidality, substance abuse, and various ailments and maladies (e.g., Neria et al, 2000; Dikel et al, 2005; Rintamaki et al, 2009; Solomon et al, 2014; Bryan et al, 2015; Fulton et al, 2015; Russell et al, 2015; Lan et al, 2016) Adding to this deleterious aftermath, evidence indicates that veterans may endure a long-lasting sense of loneliness (e.g., Kuwert et al, 2014; Solomon et al, 2015; Stein and Tuval-Mashiach, 2015a). Identifying such resources and recovery capital has become a top priority objective for research and intervention
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