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Cognitive processes have been shown to be severely affected by exposure to combat and war. While the negative impact of war on cognitive performance is apparent through numerous soldier narratives, the scientific investigation of this phenomenon is limited. Furthermore, the moderating influence of an individual’s resilience and grit on cognitive functions following combat environments is unknown. Understanding this interaction is essential in further understanding individual cognitive performance. Because the psychological wounds inflicted by combat situations affect individuals’ mental health, studying how such environments influence cognitive processes and performance can improve the training of our soldiers. This dissertation focuses on assessing how combat-like environments influence an individual’s ability to effectively and efficiently reason, and further examines whether an individual’s grit and resilience affect deductive and inductive reasoning in stressful environments. Participants were recruited from a private US military academy. The study used a pretest-posttest mixed design to investigate possible cognitive decrements in individuals’ ability to reason following exposure to war-like environments simulated by immersive and non-immersive technologies. Dependent measures included both inductive and deductive reasoning (as measured by The Letter Sets Test and Overton’s (1990) version of the Wason Selection Task, respectively) by placing participants into the immersive or non-immersive conditions. Self-reported resilience and grit were tested for interaction effects to examine how an individual’s resilience and grit influences an individual’s ability to reason in war-like environments. These findings might give a richer understanding of the ways in which cognitive mechanisms are affected by stressful environments like combat.

Ten men participated in this study; all had fathers who served six months or more in active combat during World War II. Each son was asked about his relationship with his father specific to the father's combat experience. Each interview was audiotaped and transcribed. From each transcribed interview a narrative was developed representing the life story of growing up with a combat veteran father. Reading across all ten narratives, eight themes were extracted that were consistent for seven to ten of the participants. Two follow-up questions were later asked of each participant. These questions were also taped and transcribed and formulated into themes. The four most important themes were: avoiding the topic of combat, emotional distancing, father's perceived change in personality because of the war, and wanting to have more intimate time with their fathers growing up. Fifty-five years after the end of World War II there remains a residual effect on these sons. It is anticipated that this research will assist Canada's Peacekeepers in adjusting to their civilian life as they raise their families.

The psychological sequelae of being involved in combat are only recently coming to be understood. Most of the available data are from research conducted on help-seeking Vietnam veterans in the United States, and very little work has been done in South Africa. There does not as yet appear to be any instrument designed specifically to detect combat-related psychopathologies amongst soldiers who are still in active service, either in the USA or in South Africa. Combat involvement has been shown to lead to a high incidence of combat stress reaction. This in turn has shown that it can predispose sufferers to the development of a Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. It is thus expected that there would be significantly higher incidences of reported symptoms of stress disorders amongst soldiers exposed to high levels of combat as compared with a similar group of soldiers who had no combat involvement. This study used a self-reporting questionnaire, developed in the USA but adapted for use in South Africa, to allow the soldiers in the study to rate the severity of various symptoms derived from the DSM-III criteria for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. A Beck Depression Inventory was also administered to eliminate any persons who nay have been exhibiting symptoms of depression, as this would have confounded the results. Both questionnaires were administered to serving members of the Permanent Force of the South African Defence Force, with one group being members of various high-combat units based in what was then South West Africa, and the other group being non-combat or Headquarters elements. As a precondition of the study, absolute confidentiality of the respondents and their units was maintained. The study found the expected higher scores in the high-combat group, and also showed that the Keane questionnaire has a good coefficient alpha in South Africa. The study closes with several recommendations for further research, especially in the light of the new PTSD criteria in the DSM-IIIR.

Ten men participated in this study; all had fathers who served six months or more in active combat during World War II. Each son was asked about his relationship with his father specific to the father's combat experience. Each interview was audiotaped and transcribed. From each transcribed interview a narrative was developed representing the life story of growing up with a combat veteran father. Reading across all ten narratives, eight themes were extracted that were consistent for seven to ten of the participants. Two follow-up questions were later asked of each participant. These questions were also taped and transcribed and formulated into themes. The four most important themes were: avoiding the topic of combat, emotional distancing, father's perceived change in personality because of the war, and wanting to have more intimate time with their fathers growing up. Fifty-five years after the end of World War II there remains a residual effect on these sons. It is anticipated that this research will assist Canada's Peacekeepers in adjusting to their civilian life as they raise their families. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

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Indiana University-Purdue University (IUPUI)

This work of creative nonfiction is meant to explore the effects of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder in American war veterans and their families. As a work of blended literary journalism and memoir, the author interviewed afflicted veterans from World War II to the current Iraq and Afghanistan wars, included scholarly research, and reflected on how her father's dealings with the disorder have affected her family. / by Hillary Boles. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-10-19T12:01:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Manuela Nacandumbo.pdf: 5789089 bytes, checksum: e126dca96ac1a9ef55d0ac006e0b8451 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-19T12:01:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Manuela Nacandumbo.pdf: 5789089 bytes, checksum: e126dca96ac1a9ef55d0ac006e0b8451 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-27 / The present research aimed to understand the psychological effects on young people, resulting from traumatic events of the war in Angola. The following questions were researched: what were the traumatic experiences of war that the youth experienced, and how the war events affected and impacted their lives today. With respect to the research method, a qualitative study was done. For the survey data collection, two instruments were used: a self-completed questionnaire and drawings about the experience of war. The participants were high school students of the Santa Maria Goretti Missionary School in N'dalatando, capital of the Province of Kwanza Norte, Angola. 99 students, of both sexes, agenda between 16 and 26, participated in the study. The data were entered and analyzed in SPHINX software, aided by Excel and Word Cloud. The data were analyzed in the light of the specialized literature and organized into categories. The research was submitted and authorized by the Research and Ethics Committee, under the number of Opinion 2,071,586 and CAAE: 67127917.0.0000.5482. The results revealed that the participants, in their majority, the children, went through experiences of personal suffering, of their families, friends and even strangers. They saw people killed, mutilated, mistreated, psychologically and physically tortured, attacked and destroyed. There have also been several deprivations, such as hunger, thirst, lack of shelter and basic health care. They have pointed to various consequences of psychological and physical trauma, underdevelopment, in all dimensions of life, and marked moments of difficult overcoming and forgetfulness that impact their lives today. They expressed feelings of loss, irritability, sadness, fear, guilt, revolt, indifference, resentment, grief, disgust, abandonment, loneliness, repentance, hurt, hatred, anguish and pain / A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo compreender os efeitos psicológicos em jovens, decorrentes de eventos traumáticos da guerra em Angola. Foram pesquisadas as seguintes questões: quais foram as experiências traumáticas de guerra que os jovens vivenciaram, e como os eventos de guerra afetaram e afetam a vida destes hoje. Em relação ao método de pesquisa, foi feito um estudo qualitativo. Para o levantamento dos dados da pesquisa, foram utilizados dois instrumentos: um questionário autopreenchido e desenhos sobre a vivência da guerra. Os participantes foram alunos do ensino médio da Escola Missionária Santa Maria Goretti em N’dalatando, capital da Província do Kwanza Norte, Angola. Participaram do estudo 99 alunos, de ambos os sexos, com idade entre 16 e 26 anos. Os dados foram inseridos e analisados no software SPHINX, auxiliado pelo Excel e Nuvem de Palavras. Os dados foram analisados à luz da literatura especializada e organizados em categorias. A pesquisa foi submetida e autorizada pelo Comitê de Pesquisa e Ética, sob o Número do Parecer 2.071.586 e CAAE: 67127917.0.0000.5482. Os resultados revelaram que os participantes, na sua a maioria, enquanto crianças, passaram por experiências de sofrimento pessoal, das suas famílias, amigos e até de desconhecidos. Viram pessoas mortas, mutiladas, maltratadas, torturadas psicológica e fisicamente, ataques e destruições. Passaram também diversas privações, tais como: fome, sede, falta de abrigo e de cuidados básicos de saúde. Apontaram diversas consequências de trauma psicológico e físico, o subdesenvolvimento, em todas as dimensões da vida e, momentos marcantes de difícil superação e esquecimento que impactam a sua vida hoje. Expressaram sentimentos de perda, irritabilidade, tristeza, medo, culpa, revolta, indiferença, ressentimento, aflição, desgosto, abandono, solidão, arrependimento, mágoa, ódio, angústia e dor

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 246-258) Presents readings of six novels which depict something of the nature of war trauma. Collectively, the novels suggest that the attempt to narrativise war trauma is inherently problematic. Traces the disjunctions between narrative and war trauma which ensure that war trauma remains an elusive and private phenomonen; the gulf between private experience and public discourse haunts each of the novels.