Relationships between Motivations for Joining the Army And Post-Deployment PTSD Symptoms

Abstract

We hypothesized that Army soldiers who joined reported the military for intrinsic reasons (e.g., patriotism) would show lower PTSD symptoms while those that joined for extrinsic reasons (e.g., needing the money) would report high levels of PTSD symptoms. However, this was not found. Secondary analyses revealed that the highest levels of PTSD were associated with high extrinsic reasons for joining the military coupled with low intrinsic reasons.