Mental Health and Personality Functioning of Naval Specialists Working in Extreme Environments

Abstract

This study aimed to describe the mental health profile of South African Navy specialists working in extreme environments and to investigate the incidence of expressed psychopathology among them. The authors used the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-2 to describe major patterns of psychopathology and abnormal personality functioning in a sample of 161 divers and 152 submariners and compared them with a sample of 139 general Navy employees. Navy divers and submariners displayed desirable mental health profiles, although occupational-specific markers of atypical behavior patterns were found, such as slightly elevated scores on the Hypomania scale among divers and on the Responsibility scale among submariners. There was a strong expression of masculine gender role identification among divers and submariners and the general Navy. In the cases in which atypical behavior dynamics occurred, it could be interpreted as adaptive rather than psychopathological in the specific context of the operational environment in which those individuals operated. Practically, this study provides contemporary MMPI-2 profiles and the accompanying occupational-related normative deviations for South African divers and submariners, possibly allowing for more accurate interpretation of profiles from these groups, resulting in enhanced mental health monitoring in these environments.