Psychological Adjustment among Military Personnel: Exploring Coping Styles, Officer Cadres and Gender

Authors

  • Kayode J Fakorede Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
  • Mojisola S Ajayi Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
  • Emmanuel E Uye Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59890/ijeps.v3i1.217

Keywords:

Coping Styles, Officer Cadre, Psychological Adjustment, Military Personnel

Abstract

This study investigated the roles of coping styles, officer cadres and gender on psychological adjustment among military personnel in Nigeria. Cross-sectional survey design was adopted while purposive sampling technique was used to select one military cantonment in Nigeria. Data were collected from 202 military personnel using validated scales and analyze using multiple regression analysis and independent samples t-test. Three hypotheses were tested and accepted at p =.000. The result revealed that coping styles and officer cadres jointly predicted psychological adjustment among military personnel [R2 = .40, F (2, 199) = 65.34, p =.000]. Also, the result indicated that emotion-focused and problem-focused dimensions of coping styles jointly predicted psychological adjustment among study participants [R2 =.50, F (2, 199) = 100.73, p = .000]. Furthermore, emotion–focused dimension of coping styles (β = .66, t = 10.73, p=.000) independently predicted psychological adjustment among study participants. The study concludes that coping styles rather than the officer cadres is a robust predictor of psychological adjustment among military personnel in Nigeria. The study recommended that adequate welfare package should be implemented by the military authority to help their officers to cope effectively in order to manage their psychological well-being.

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Published

2025-01-31